KAA, Konoha's Academy of Athletics
by kai-foxflight
Summary: Hyuuga Hinata, daughter of one of the leaders of Konoha, goes missing with no idea where she could be. A few days later, a new student shows up at elite, all-boys KAA with a mysterious past and an even more mysterious future there. When he gets roomed with Sasuke, a past Olympic competitor for high jump, things turn interesting and secrets are revealed.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N I just sort of thought of this as I finished the first day of my ERB testing for school. It is sort of based off of ****To the Beautiful You,**** but it will be different. I promise. Tell me what you all think!**

**Chapter 1**

Konoha was reduced to chaos as the word spread around. Hinata, the daughter of one of their rulers, was gone. Missing. With no idea where she was.

Her father was devastated, but he had still managed to hide the news for a few days as their police force looked for her. But there was not a trace where she had gone. By the time a week had past, the entire village knew. And he could finally let his composure crack as he pleaded for his daughter's safe return. But there was not a reply.

But on the very same day the news had gotten out, another strange event happened. A new student appeared at KAA, Konoha Academy of Athletics, in the middle of the year. And nobody ever comes in the middle of the year. Ever. So it was a pretty big event. All of dorm three stood to watch the scrawny little boy, who they were supposed to believe was 15 and a track star, walk up the path to the door. Neji and Shikamaru took the responsibility as dorm heads to greet the boy and show him around, but neither could believe this kid actually got into their school. Their elite, all-boys, school of athletics.

He was scrawny, too small for a 15 year old boy, no matter how small his parents were. His height was just a little over 5 foot, 5'4" at most. He looked like he had never run before in his life, yet he was supposed to be a track star. And his hands, they looked like the hands of a girl who had never had to do anything before.

"Kid, what did you say your name was?" Neji said after the three sat down at a table in the main room of the dorm. Many other dorm members were crowded around the table, staring at the new kid like he was a piece of meat or a new toy.

"Hitachiin Kaoru." He looked at the table, tracing the water rings with his eyes.

"Isn't that the name of a character in a manga? Something about a club?" A blonde boy leaned forward, examining Kaoru.

"Yeah, it is. The writer used to know my mother and always said she liked my name enough to use it in one of her mangas." He still didn't look up from the table and a few of the students scoffed at his demeanor. Some left, finding him boring, while others tuned some of their attention out to focus on other things. Only a few continued to pay full attention.

"Well then, Kaoru," the blonde got closer to the boy, slinging his arm over Kaoru's shoulders, "I'm Naruto. These guys are all my friends. There's Neji, Shikamaru, Kiba, Shino, Choji, Lee," he pointed out the people and Kaoru tried hard to remember who was who, "and… Where's Sasuke?"

Something seemed to pass through Kaoru's eyes as Sasuke's name was mentioned, but only Neji, Shikamaru, and Shino seemed to catch it. They shared a look; all wondering exactly what it was they saw. Sasuke appeared in the doorway as Naruto was speaking, walking silently up to the group with a gym bag falling off his shoulder. "I was training. Who's this?" He glanced over Naruto to the new kid, who stared back with a look that could rival Sasuke's own apathetic one.

"Kaoru. Hitachiin Kaoru." Naruto patted the small boy as he spoke, hitting him harder than really necessary. He barely held back a flinch at each pat.

"Hn." He turned to walk away, but turned around at Neji's call. "What?"

"He's in your dorm." If looks could kill, Kaoru would have been dead.

"I don't want him." As to not leave room for any more conversation, he stalked away, as quickly and quietly as he had come.

"Ignore him. His just pissy. Like, all the time." Naruto gave Kaoru a little punch on the arm. "Come on. I have a key, I can let you in." Without waiting for a reply, he grabbed Kaoru's arm and pulled him up. He walked off, dragging Kaoru and his luggage behind him. Shikamaru and Neji looked at the kid they were supposed be showing around as if to protest, before Shikamaru mumbled something about it being too troublesome and to leave them be. Neji just sat back, still looking at the space where the new kid had left from. He couldn't shake the feeling that he knew him.

_The girl ran through the woods, wind blowing her black hair back as she ran as fast as she could. Her pack bounced with each step, but she did not stop. It wasn't until she came to a stream that she finally slowed, before sitting down on a rock to rest. She stared at the moon reflecting on the water, high in the sky and bright as could be. And under the full moon, she crouched by the water. "It's now or never, Hinata," she whispered before reaching into her bag and pulling out a pair of scissors. Grabbing her hair in chunks, she chopped them off, letting the loose strands float down the stream as they fell._

_Using the water as a mirror, she fixed up her hair so it was shaggy but not too bad looking, and very boyish. When she decided it was good enough, she stood up again and looked around. Seeing nobody nearby, Hinata quickly took off her shirt and the underclothes she wore; only to replace them with an ace bandage around her chest and a tank top over that. Her pants were quickly changed to sweats and she threw a T-shirt on once she dug it out of her bag. Looking at her reflection once again in the water, Hinata placed a hat on her head and threw a hoodie over her shirt to fight off the chill. "Goodbye Hinata. Hello Kaoru."_

Kaoru jolted up from his bed, having just awoken from a nightmare. But it must have been better than reality, because Sasuke was standing at the foot of his bed, just looking at him, completely apathetic. "Do you need something?" He wiped the sleep from his eyes before reaching over to the table next to him and grabbing some glasses. After putting them on, he could finally see Sasuke as clearly as possible in the darkness.

"You talk in your sleep." He didn't say anything else, just stood there staring at his roommate. After a few seconds, he sighed. "Get up and be on the main floor in a minute." That said, he turned heel and descended the curled stairs leading to the half of a second floor the bed that was now Kaoru's was on.

The boy wasted no time in listening, scrambling out of bed and taking the stairs two at a time. Sasuke held back a chuckle as Kaoru stood in front of him in seconds. "Here are the rules for staying in this dorm. No noise over a whisper from you. No leaving your things lying around. No touching my things. Do not bother me. Listen to everything I tell you to do. Don't do anything that can get me in trouble. Got it?" Kaoru nodded. "Good. Now show me what you got into this school for. Be changed and at the track in five minutes." Sasuke stared the boy down as he stood there. It took a clearing of his throat for Kaoru to jump into action and race back upstairs to get changed. . Without bothering to wait for him, he left the room, leaving Kaoru to find the track on his own.

"Crap crap crappity crap crap." Kaoru ran through the school grounds as fast as he could, and it was quite fast. His running shoes were slung over his neck, a pair of beat up sneakers on his feet. With each step, the shoes bounced against his back, reminding him of running through the woods not so long ago. When he was still Hinata.

He shook his head as he started thinking about his life before. "No, I have to do this," he muttered, sprinting as soon as he saw the track. Sasuke stood in the middle, looking at his watch, and barely hid a smirk as Kaoru came running up with seconds to spare.

"You're lucky, kid." He clicked off the timer, before looking at Kaoru on the ground, already putting his correct shoes on. Mentally, he checked off the first thing he was testing Kaoru for-readiness. "Ten laps. Now."

Kaoru did not seem to react to the large order, instead nodding and taking off faster than Sasuke expected. _Maybe he actually will be good._ His stopwatch was timing Kaoru, and Sasuke leaned back to relax a little, expecting some time to rest. Too soon it seemed, Kaoru was in front of him again. A glanced at his stopwatch almost gathered a reaction from him. _12 minutes? That's better than our lead runner now. And this kid didn't even warm up yet._ "How did I do?"

"Could be better." Sasuke shrugged and watched as the younger boy's shoulders fell slightly. _But anything could be. You're pretty good kid._ "What's your average mile?"

"Five minutes." _Pretty good. _  
"What do you normally run?" He gestured for Kaoru to change back to his normal shoes, and after the boy did so, they began to walk back to their dorm.

"Short distance." _Yet you're not winded from that. Maybe you are as good as they said._

Sasuke nodded to himself, but Kaoru saw it. "You can stay in the dorm," he said suddenly.

"What?" Kaoru tripped in surprise at the random statement and barely caught himself.

"I said you could stay in the dorm. If you did badly on my test, I would have kicked you out." He shrugged, as if his logic was normal. "Just remember the rules."

"So you're saying I'm good?" That seemed to be all Kaoru got from what Sasuke had just said.

"No." He watched as the boy's shoulders fell once again. "I'm just saying you're not bad." By then they had reached their dorm and Sasuke walked inside, leaving the door open for Kaoru to enter as well. "I'm washing up first. And here's your key." He threw it with one hand as he walked towards the bathroom, leaving Kaoru to scramble to catch the unexpected object flying at him.

"Huh? Washing up?" He glanced at the clock, only to realize they had less than a half hour until breakfast. _Great._

OoOoOoOoOoO

Kaoru had planned on eating breakfast on his own, so it was a great surprise to him when Sasuke sat down at the table next to him instead of walking off to his friends. He glanced at the older roommate, but didn't say anything as Sasuke just focused on his food, pushing it around and eating some. Eventually, Kaoru began to eat as well, neither speaking and the only noise being the sound of utensils hitting plates. Sasuke finished first and threw his trash away, returning the plate to the counter. Kaoru had expected him to just leave for his first class, and had to bite back a yelp when he glanced up to Sasuke sitting in front of him again.

"Hurry up. If you continue to eat so slow, we will be late for class" Kaoru only nodded, shoveling food into his mouth as fast as he could to obey the command. In less than a minute, he was finished.

He copied the actions Sasuke had done with his finished plate before jogging to catch up with the boy that was already leaving. Most of the cafeteria was empty by now, and they walked faster than normal to reach class on time. "Get in." Sasuke nodded for Kaoru to go in, holding the door with one hand as he did so.

"Thanks." He didn't take the kindness for granted and ignored the surprised looks from a few students. Taking an empty seat, it came to a shock to the whole class when Sasuke sat behind him. However, he said nothing and Kaoru followed suit, keeping quiet.

The lessons passed quickly, and soon Kaoru found himself filing out of the classroom with the other students. "Where are we going?"

Sasuke glanced at the boy following behind him. "Gym. We're swimming today." Kaoru's eyes widened slightly. "What? Afraid of water?"

"No." He shook his head. "I just…"

"What?" Sasuke led the way through the twisting halls. They entered the dressing room and he showed Kaoru to his locker, right across from his own. "Don't like being shirtless?"

"Sort of." He glanced in the locker, wincing slightly when he saw there was already a uniform and swimming trunks. "I had a bunch of chest surgeries when I was younger so I have a lot of scars."

The reasoning made Sasuke feel like an ass for joking about it, but he wouldn't admit it. He searched in his own locker as Kaoru changed into the trunks, never taking off his shirt. "Here." Sasuke held out a black t-shirt. "Wear it."

"Oh." Kaoru took it. "Thank you." But Sasuke didn't respond, only changing quickly and walking away, leaving Kaoru as one of the last students.

However, as he stepped out of the door, he grabbed the necklace on his neck and cursed, turning back around. As he walked slowly back to his locker, he heard talking. "You think you're so cool because you're buddies with Uchiha?" A yelp came as Sasuke rounded the corner to the strip of lockers his and Kaoru's were in.

In front of him were the four last students all standing in front of Kaoru, grabbing him by the front of his half-opened shirt, his black t-shirt dropped on the ground as Kaoru tried to stopped the next punch.

But it never came. Sasuke grabbed the boy's hand, pulling him backwards until he released Kaoru. "Don't touch him."

"Why shouldn't I? He's just like a puppy following you around; you can't possibly like him either." His three friends backed him up, one of them grabbing Kaoru and yanking him forward. "You want your puppy back?"

Kaoru stumbled when the person holding him pushed him forward suddenly. Sasuke barely caught him before he face-planted into the tiled floor but the older still didn't look at Kaoru. Instead, he was glaring at the four that caused all of this. Without warning, he let go of trying to steady Kaoru, pulling his fist back and smashing it into the face of the one smirking at him.

The boy's nose crunched under Sasuke's knuckles and he flew back into the locker with a loud bang. His eyes filled with fire aimed at Sasuke and he jumped forward to hit the boy back. Kaoru tried to stop the fight, but one of the friends grabbed him again, the same one as before.

No matter how hard he tried, Kaoru couldn't get out of the grip of the larger boy. An arm tightened on his throat, cutting off airflow. A fist buried itself in his stomach and his body tried to crumple in on itself like a piece of paper, but he was still held up by the boy. Another followed after, and through the black dots slowly covering his vision, he could see Sasuke doing fine against the now-three trying to punch him, dodging all the punches and not throwing another of his own.

As the black started to take over Kaoru's vision, a man he could only guess was the coach stormed in, taking in the whole scene in less than a second as the three aiming at Sasuke stopped trying to punch him and the Uchiha slowly relaxed, slinking out of his snake-like dodging stance. The arm stopping Kaoru from breathing loosened and he sucked in air now that it was available. The dots floating in his vision disappeared as the grip continued to loosen, only for him to be dropped to the ground, still too weak from the punches to stand.

Sasuke was there in a few steps, helping him up easily. The coach glanced between the six before sighing. "Uchiha, get him to Kakashi then both of you come to the principal's office. Yakushi, Abumi, Kinuta, what's-your-face, come with me." He stalked out, the four following behind him with their heads down like convicts being led to their cells. Outside, he yelled something about class being cancelled. Before any students could enter, Sasuke helped Kaoru limp out, walking past the boys as they did so, leaving everyone wondering just what happened in the locker room before class.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Kakashi," Sasuke helped Kaoru sit down on the bed in the medical room, looking around for the ever-lazy doctor. The man appeared from behind his desk, dropping a book on top as he walked to the two students, straightening his glasses on the way. "There was a fight."

"And I'm guessing you lost." He looked right at Kaoru, who only looked to the floor. "It's not like you to get involved, Sasuke." He said nothing too, and Kakashi sighed. "What happened? Where are you hurt?"

"I'm fine. Really." He went to get off the bed, only for Sasuke to push him back on.

"He's not. Abumi grabbed him in a chokehold as Kinuta punched him repeatedly." Sasuke leaned on the wall, ignoring Kaoru's glare. Knowing Kakashi's next question, he answered before it could be asked. "In the stomach. Hard. Even for Kinuta."

Kakashi sighed before turning to Kaoru. "Lay down. Sasuke, out." The boy went to argue before thinking about what had been spoken between the two of them in the locker room and left, standing right outside the door.

"I'm fine, really. You don't need to do anything." Kaoru tried to sit up, but now it was Kakashi holding him down.

"Put this on your cheek. It's swelling already." He held an ice pack he had managed to get at some point, placing it gently and having Kaoru hold it in place.

"I'm really fine. Honestly. You don't have to do anything." He tried once again to get off from the bed, and Kakashi let him sit up at least.

"Come see me if something doesn't feel right." Kaoru nodded and went to jump off the bed, already expecting Kakashi's arm grab that came. "I just have one thing to ask you."

"What?"

"What is a girl doing in an all-guys school?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N I'm still going to refer to Hinata as Kaoru, him/he, etc. just so it doesn't get all that confusing for me and for you. Okay?**

**Chapter 2**

"H-how did you…?" Kaoru's mind was going a mile a minute, thinking about all the outcomes that would come from this. All of them ended in being expelled.

"It wasn't that hard. Especially since your shirt is half-open. I can tell there is something under your tank top. And then you just gave me the final answer. I was guessing until that." Kakashi stared right at him, giving a slight smile. "So why are you here?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

"It depends on how big of a secret it is." Kakashi gave a smile, his eyes showing truth. "But I won't tell this one."

"You swear you will keep this one?" Kakashi nodded and Kaoru sighed, looking anywhere but at Kakashi. "I'm Hyuuga Hinata."

Sasuke froze outside, wondering if he heard that correctly. The whole conversation was surprising to him, but that part stopped him short. "I should have figured." Kakashi took off his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Just how did the daughter of Hyuuga Hiashi end up in our school as a boy, in my office after a fight on her first day of school?"

Kaoru shrugged. "You're going to let me stay? And you won't tell anyone?"

"Yes. I'm quite curious to how this will all play out." He glanced at the bruise that was forming on Kaoru's cheek from a punch. "Now that I know all this, can I make sure you are actually okay?"

"I'm fine. And I told you I would come back here if something happens to me." He went to get off the bed and finally was allowed. "I'll be going." Kakashi nodded and watched as Kaoru left, the bruise bright on his pale cheek, the ice pack sitting on the table next to the bed. _What did I just get myself into?_

OoOoOoOoOoO

"So you're fine?" Sasuke pushed off from the wall across from the door to Kakashi's office as Kaoru walked out.

"Yes. Thank you so much. If you hadn't come, I probably wouldn't be. I'll take full blame for it." Kaoru dipped his head in thanks to the older boy.

"I didn't go for you. I'd just wanted to put my necklace in the locker. And I expected you to." Without glancing back at Kaoru, he led the way to the principal's office. But he couldn't get the bruise on Kaoru's cheek out of his mind.

When they entered, the four from before were still sitting in the chairs, so the two had no choice but to stand next to the coach. The old man behind the desk scanned the faces of all the students, stopping on Kaoru's. "Ah, Kaoru. It's your first day and you are already involved in a fight?"

"I'm sorry, sir." He dipped his head, not even bothering to say it wasn't his fault.

"Gai, would you care to tell me what happened?" He turned to the coach that broke up the fight, looking for an answer.

"I don't know, sir. I was preparing the class when was a bang from the locker room. By the time I got there, these two," he gestured to the two in front of him sitting in the chairs, "were trying to hit Sasuke and the other two were punching the new student." He looked down a little, but he still seemed happy for a teacher that just broke up a fight.

"Very well. Kabuto, care to tell me what happened?" He turned to the student right in front of Gai.

"We were just trying to get changed when newbie over there was getting all in our face about how cool he was since Uchiha likes him and hangs out with him. He tried to punch me but missed and then Uchiha came and punched me. We were just trying to protect ourselves." He seemed to be as good at lying as the principal was at sensing lies.

His eyes turned to Kaoru. "Kaoru?"

"I was changing and he came along and just punched me with his friends holding me so I couldn't do anything. Sasuke came to put something in his locker and ended up stopping them. They started fighting and then I was being choked and punched. That's when Gai-sensei came." He looked so weak telling the story, and Sasuke thought back to the conversation he had heard at the nurse's office. _If they knew, would they have still done it?_

"Very well." He placed his hands on the desk, clasping them as he looked at each of the students again. "Two weeks detention. All of you."

"Sasuke shouldn't get detention." Everyone, even Kaoru himself, was surprised at what came out of his mouth. "He didn't do anything wrong, all he did was try to help me."

"Kaoru, stop." Sasuke grabbed the boy's shoulder, turning Kaoru to face him. "I threw a punch, I'll take the punishment. However," he turned to face the principal, "Kaoru honestly did nothing but get attacked. He should not have detention."

"Why not just watch the security cameras, sir?" Gai looked at the man behind the desk as he nodded.

"Very well. Go get them, Gai. You six stay here." The four who were starting to stand sat back down as Gai ran out of the room, returning minutes later with a disk in hand. The faces of the four went pale as the disk was placed in a computer on the desk. A minute later, the computer was turned so that all of them could see. It started from Sasuke handing Kaoru the shirt and they watched as Sasuke walked away and the four jumped forward from around the corner. Kabuto tapped Kaoru on the shoulder while he was facing his locker and as the boy jumped and turned around, he was grabbed by one person on each arm, the final sending a fist flying right into his face.

The principal and Gai watched the screen intently while the four sitting in the chairs looked down, cursing their luck, and Kaoru closed his eyes, not really wanting to see himself get beat up. Sasuke watched the screen but also paid attention to Kaoru, glancing back and forth between the two.

As what Kaoru said to be true happened, the heads of the four went lower and lower. "I've changed my mind. The four of you," he looked at the four in front of his desk, "a month's detention and no special privileges for this semester. Sasuke, two days detention. Kaoru, none. You may all return to the locker room to change back to proper clothing. But Kaoru, you stay." As the others left, Kaoru stood there, finally taking a seat when they were free. "Why was Sasuke giving you a shirt in this?" He motioned to the screen to say what he was talking about, but Kaoru already knew.

"We were swimming today, and I said I don't like showing my chest. He gave it to me so that I could wear it." He tried to focus on the principal as he spoke, but the best he could do was look at the desk in front of him.

"Ah… That's all. You may return to class as well." Without needing to be told again, Kaoru got out of the room as fast as possible.

And standing outside was Sasuke. "I was told to show you the way. Come on." _Maybe he wasn't as pissy as Naruto said._

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Did you two know each other before Kaoru came here? You seem so close." Kaoru choked on the water he just drank while Sasuke simply looked up from his plate, staring at Naruto's chopsticks so close to his face. Around the table, the others nodded, agreeing with the blonde for one.

"No. He's just less annoying than you." Sasuke returned to eating while Kaoru tried to remember how to breathe again, still coughing slightly from the near-death experience he just had that went ignored by everyone. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah." He finally caught his breath. "We actually went to the same elementary school."

"Did we? I don't remember." Sasuke ate a piece of egg, trying to recall any memories of elementary school, any at all. None came.

"Yeah, you were a heartbreaker, even in first grade. What was her name? Sakura? Something like that." He smirked a little at the memory but returned to his own meal.

"Tell me about that!" Naruto almost jumped up at the chance to learn more about Sasuke.

Kaoru glanced at Sasuke out of the corner of his eye, but he seemed just as interested, if not more. "She was this really annoying kid and she followed him around everywhere. I'm pretty sure she even had gotten pictures of him somehow and hung them on her walls. But one day, she told Sasuke how much she loved him, telling him she had ten dollars for him if he liked her back. He took the money and then told her how much he hated her. She didn't come back to school for weeks after that." Naruto snorted, looking at Sasuke, who was smirking slightly.

"I remember that. I had needed five more dollars for my first high jump bar, so I took it from her and then told her I didn't like her. She ran off crying from the playground and locked herself in the bathroom. One of the teachers had to break down the door to get her out." That memory seemed to open more from his childhood. And, deciding to be the ass everyone knew him as, he decided to mess with the person sitting next to him that was not who they said they were. "Do you remember Hyuuga Hinata? She was such a weird kid. Always alone."

"Yeah… I remember her." He didn't say anything else, but someone else quickly took the conversation over.

"Isn't she the daughter of Hiashi who went missing?" Around the table, everyone nodded to Kiba.

"I heard Hiashi's going insane looking for her." The boy paused to stuff his face with food. "Hey Neji, how's everyone taking it?" Choji looked to the nephew of the leader they were talking about, but the boy didn't respond at first.

"It's pretty crazy at the house. I'm glad I stay here, let's just leave it at that." He shrugged, pushing the food around on his plate but not eating any of it.

Kaoru stopped eating to stare at Neji. "She is your cousin. Don't you care that she is missing?"

Neji stopped too to stare back at Kaoru. "Learn your place. You know nothing about her or my family." Kaoru went to argue back, but something dawned on him before he could say anything. Angrily, he leaned back in his seat, not eating anymore. As the others talked around him, he stayed silent. When Sasuke finished, the two cleaned up and walked out together.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Are you going to the practice today?" Sasuke leaned back in his desk chair, taking a break from studying to look across the small room at Kaoru.

"I don't know. Am I even allowed? It's the middle of the track season. Should I join when the next begins?" He didn't even bother looking up from his math book, biting the eraser on his pencil as he stared at a problem, wishing it would solve itself.

"Just come. Even if you aren't actually on the team, you can still practice with us." Sasuke stretched backwards, using it as an excuse to see the problem that was stumping Kaoru. "What are you stuck on?"

"Nothing. I just don't feel like doing it." The younger boy sighed, closing the book and opening a laptop instead. "When's the practice?"

"Ten minutes." Sasuke stood, not even bothering to close his book as he left the desk. "You better get ready." Kaoru practically jumped up from the desk, slamming the laptop shut as he did so. Without saying anything, he took the stairs two at a time to climb faster. "I guess you are coming?" He got no reply, only the slamming of a drawer. A few seconds later, the curtain that surrounded the small floor was dragged shut. "I'll take that as a yes."

Getting into his own workout clothes at a much slower pace, Sasuke barely held back a chuckle when Kaoru came down the stairs looking everywhere but at his part of the room. The boy grabbed his running shoes by the door and put on his normal shoes before leaning against the wall. "Are you done yet?"

"Yeah. Come on." Sasuke walked around the corner with his shirt thrown over his shoulder, running shoes on top of it. Sliding another pair on easily, he led the way out of the room. As they walked, he put the shirt on, noticing the way Kaoru looked anywhere but at him the whole time. _So I guess he really is a girl._

"What do you normally do at the practices?" Kaoru seemed like such an innocent little girl with how he glanced at Sasuke from the corner of his eye, hair falling into his face and a curious look in his eyes.

"Things." Sasuke didn't even bother elaborating on it, just heading into the gym. When Kaoru entered, everyone in the room stopped their warm-ups to stare him as he walked behind Sasuke to Gai.

"Ah, a new face!" Gai stood in front of Kaoru, studying the boy and making him feel smaller than he already was, especially compared to the giant of a coach. "Why are you here?"

"He's a runner." Sasuke didn't say anything more, walking over to the other boys and starting to stretch, leading to them copying one by one.

"A runner? You seem pretty tiny for that… Oh, well you have to be good to get into this school, so will test that in a little." Gai clapped Kaoru on the shoulder, and the boy stumbled from it, his eyes closing from the pain of it.

"I-I also high jump." The clapping on the shoulder stopped and when Kaoru opened his eyes again, all the students and Gai were staring at him. Even Sasuke had frozen mid-stretch, still reaching for his foot, to stare at Kaoru. _What did I just do?_


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N So I had a reviewer tell me this sounded familiar. I've never seen a story like this one on the site, but if anyone else has, tell me the title and author and I'll see if it is similar and try to make it different from theirs. Thanks!**

**Chapter 3**

"Looks like Sasuke's puppy follows his master in everything." One of the boys from the locker room incident sneered at Kaoru before turning to Sasuke. "Isn't this interesting… What do you think? Is your puppy being good? Or annoying?"

Sasuke didn't bother responding to him, instead looking at Kaoru. Before he could say anything, however, Gai was cutting in. "Well then! Let's see just how good you are." He turned to the whole team. "Five minutes for stretching, and then we are testing Kaoru to see if he is team material!"

There were a few murmurs around the team, and none of them seemed to be in favor of Kaoru. Seeing no one who would even let him stretch near them, he walked off on his own away from them. As Kaoru started going through stretches, a shadow cast over him. "You high jump?" Kaoru nodded to Sasuke, still stretching. "You do know you're going to have to jump against me and I'm-"

"You're hold the youth record of 2.31 meters, have perfect form and balance, competed in the Youth Olympics when it was last held, and have been doing it since kindergarten. Am I missing anything?" Kaoru finally looked up from his spot of the floor, completely folded in half and grasping his wrists behind his foot. A few of the team members glanced over at how flexible he was, but he didn't even bother listening to what they said. "I already know."

"Then why even bother trying, if you know you will never be better than me? It would take a miracle for you to beat me." Sasuke continued his stretches, but kept talking with Kaoru.

"Because someone once told me a miracle is just another name for hard work. And while I might not be as good as you now, I will get better. But not everything is about you, and I won't compare myself to someone else who has been doing something much longer than I have." Kaoru stopped stretching when Gai blew a whistle, gathering in front of the coach with the others and ending the conversation with Sasuke, leaving the boy thinking about what he had said.

"Kaoru, Neji, Sasuke, Gaara, get up here." Kaoru walked up with the other three, studying the red head that he had yet to meet. "Neji and Gaara are the top two runners. Kaoru, you are going to race them. Understood?" The trio nodded. "Sasuke is the best high jumper. You're going to compete against him." Kaoru nodded and saw Sasuke do the same out of the corner of his eye. "Good. Now, let's get to the track."

They began to file out of the gym, the four of them last with Gai. As the three Kaoru was set to compete against walked ahead of him and Gai, the coach leaned close to Kaoru's ear. "I don't expect you to beat them. Just show what you can do. Okay?" Kaoru nodded and Gai straightened back to full height, having nothing else to say.

When they reached the track, Neji, Gaara, and Kaoru got set on the track while the others filed into the stands to watch what they expected would be the new kid getting creamed. Sasuke stood on the edge, a slight smirk on his face knowing just what Kaoru could do. Gai stood next to Sasuke, his whistle ready to blow as he explained the race. "Ten laps on my third whistle. Sasuke, time them." He handed a stopwatch to Sasuke before holding the whistle to his lips. On the first blow they got set, the second signaling them to get ready. At the third, they took off. Neji was leading by the smallest amount, Kaoru and Gaara tied right behind him. For the first few laps, it stayed that way, immediately catching the attention of everyone watching. On the sixth, Kaoru passed Gaara and tied with Neji.

When the eighth lap started, Sasuke's smirk got bigger. "Here's his secret," he whispered, not really expecting Gai to hear as he had. Kaoru passed Neji and built a large lead in seconds, placing a quarter of the track between them on the one lap. The students on the bleachers could only watch shocked as Neji and Gaara couldn't catch up with him, even trying their hardest. When Kaoru crossed the finish, Sasuke stopped the watch. "10 minutes 42.3 seconds."

"Really?" Kaoru grabbed the watch from Sasuke to see the time for himself. "That's my personal best."

Sasuke looked from the two others to Kaoru, comparing their windedness to the slight redness on Kaoru's cheeks. With a smirk, he leaned closer to whisper something to Kaoru. "It's better than both of theirs, and they are in the top five runners in our age group in our division."

Kaoru didn't have much time to react to what Sasuke said, as Gai was next to them right after. "That was really good, Kaoru. But are you two ready for the high jump?" The two nodded and Gai yelled at the team to get back to the gym and set up the bar before the he got there. Never before had Kaoru seen so many students run as hard as they had without a beast chasing them. He guessed the reason was the beast was walking beside him and Sasuke.

"I can tell you that you are already on the team for running like that. But I'm curious about your jumping skills as well." Gai patted the boy on the back again, and Kaoru tried his hardest to not stumble this time. "Sasuke, what do you think of him?"

"He's not bad." That was all he said, and the trio fell into silence for the rest of the walk back to the gym. When they got there, the jumping bar and mats were all set up, with two people finishing up putting the bar on.

"Good job, guys." That was all Gai said before walking to the set-up, Sasuke and Kaoru following. He set the bar on both sides, but didn't tell the two the height. "Sasuke's going to jump first, then Kaoru. Okay?" The two nodded. "Great. Then, it's your turn, Sasuke." Gai and Kaoru walked off to the side a little bit while Sasuke walked to the marks specifically for this event. Kaoru watched his technique as he took off, one step, then another, then another.

He made the jump smoothly and smirked at Kaoru as he got off the mats. Kaoru made way to the same mark as Sasuke and looked at how far the bar was before taking a small step forward, closer to it. From there, he got into his own stance, before starting. He cleared the bar as easily as Sasuke. As he rolled off the mats, Gai raised the bar for the next round of jumps.

Sasuke returned to his place and started again. After he cleared the bar, Kaoru did the same. It continued like that for a while. When Sasuke went up again, he glanced from the height of the bar to Kaoru, having not expected the boy to get this high. He started off, ignoring a slight ache in his ankle as his feet pounded on the ground. But as he went to jump off his foot, his ankle rolled, and as he went over the bar, his foot clipped it, sending a shot of agony through him. When hit the mat, Kaoru was the first one there, helping him sit up without hurting his foot any more. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Come on, you have to try to beat me." Sasuke sat up and tried to stand, but could barely put weight on his one foot. Kaoru helped him limp over to where they had been standing, letting Gai steady Sasuke from there. "Go on, try and beat me."

Kaoru looked at Gai, who only nodded, and hesitantly went to his own starting point. As Gai and Sasuke watched the boy start, the student glanced at his coach. "What's the bar at?"

"2.28 meters. He's good." Gai nodded towards Kaoru as he jumped over the bar, just barely clipping it. It wobbled, but stayed on.

As soon as Kaoru hit the mat, he was scrambling to the edge. A few of the older students in the stands laughed at the boy, but he didn't care or notice as he raced to Gai and Sasuke. "How was that?"

Gai just clapped him on the back. "Sasuke, you have a new training partner. But you should go see Kakashi for your ankle. Kaoru, help him get there."

The younger nodded, letting Sasuke drape his arm over his shoulders and helping him limp. They walked in silence, only broken by Sasuke telling the occasional direction. "Why didn't you tell me you high jump?"

"I thought you would hate me, and you have already done so much for me…" Kaoru turned left as Sasuke had told him to do, looking at the ground in front of them and nowhere else.

"I probably would have… But anyone is better than training with Sai. Turn right here." Sasuke nodded at the corner ahead, and Kaoru followed what he had been told, still not looking up.

"Sai?"

"He's a grade above us and set out on kicking my ass in high jump. Freaky kid." Sasuke pointed to the room and Kaoru hurried to open the door, helping the boy inside. "Kakashi."

"Why are you two back? Did you get into another fight?" Kakashi glanced up from his desk to see Sasuke standing on his one leg, Kaoru helping him stay up. With a sigh, he placed his book back down. "Have a seat."

Sasuke nodded and limped over to the bed while Kaoru still stood, watching as Sasuke lifted his leg onto the bed. "Take off your shoe and sock." Again, he nodded, only to wince in pain at trying to remove the shoe. Eventually, he resorted to untying it and loosening the laces until he could just slide his foot right out. The sock was another challenge, but he managed.

Already, the whole ankle was swollen and black with bruising. Kakashi pressed lightly on it, and Sasuke clenched his teeth together to not cry out. "You're going to need an x-ray of that. Kaoru, go back to your dorm. Sasuke's going to have to go to the hospital tonight." The younger boy nodded and left quickly, leaving Sasuke alone in the room with Kakashi. "What happened?"

"Gai was testing Kaoru to see if he was good enough for the team. Apparently he jumps, so Gai was comparing the two of us. I jumped off of my foot wrong." Sasuke leaned back on the bed, trying to ignore all that Kakashi was doing to his foot.

"I'm pretty sure it's broken, so I'm going to have you go to the hospital to get it x-rayed. If there's anything you want from your room, tell me so that I can have someone bring it before you leave." Sasuke shook his head and Kakashi walked to his desk, making a few calls before returning back to the bed. "Are you ready then?" Sasuke nodded and Kakashi helped him off the bed and, against Sasuke's wishes, into a wheelchair. Once more against his wishes, Sasuke was pushed in the wheelchair from the building to a school van outside. As they left, a few students saw Sasuke, and by the time the van was pulling out, people were running after to see exactly who was inside.

"I'm going to hate coming back now." Sasuke watched out the window as the van drove the short distance to the hospital, Kakashi sitting next to him and some random teacher driving.

"You care more about what it is going to be like coming back with the people knowing than what happened to your foot?" Sasuke nodded to Kakashi and the teacher scoffed. "You never cease to amaze me."

Sasuke remained silent for the rest of the ride, only talking once they were in the hospital itself. "Did you call my father?" Kakashi nodded. "Is he coming here?" The man tensed up at the question, answering Sasuke. "He's too busy to care. Just give me the paperwork, I'll fill it out." He took the clipboard from Kakashi, filling in most of his information before handing it back. "The rest is for you."

As Kakashi finished the paperwork and turned it in, Sasuke glanced at the few others in the waiting room. It was mainly elderly people, and then a little kid with his arm all wrapped up on his mother's lap. With nothing better to do, he began counting the tiles, ignoring the names being called for people to go in. Then he moved on to the dots on the ceiling panels. The room was empty except for him and Kakashi when he finished.

Kakashi sat next to Sasuke's wheelchair, first typing on a small phone, and then playing games on it. "Can I use your phone?"

"Huh?" The grey-haired man looked up at Sasuke. "Why?"

"I just want to call someone." Kakashi handed the phone over to his student and, now having nothing else to do, watched as he dialed in the school number, followed by the number to connect him to a room.

"Kaoru," Kakashi immediately gave up on trying to figure out what Sasuke was doing when he heard the person Sasuke was calling, "don't tell anyone what happened, okay?"

A muffled reply came from the other end. "I'm fine. We still haven't gotten in yet."

As soon as Sasuke had spoken that, the door opened and a nurse with a file in hand looked at the two. "Uchiha Sasuke. You can come in now."

Kaoru said something on the other end and Sasuke hung up without saying goodbye. As Kakashi stood to push his wheelchair, Sasuke handed the phone to him before navigating the way himself.

And as they sat down to wait once again in a more comfortable room this time, Kakashi knew it was going to be a long night.

OoOoOoOoOoO

The next morning, Kaoru woke up before the sun had risen and wrote a quick note in case Sasuke came back before changing and going for a run around the school grounds. When he came back, the elder student still wasn't there, so he used the time to shower and get ready. It was a Saturday, which meant no class, but also no breakfast. As he scavenged up some food from a small set of cabinets and a mini-fridge, his mind wandered through many things, mostly about what happened before he came to this school.

"_I don't want to be married off, Father." She stood tall, but the man in front of her obviously had more power and status, and she was forced to back down a little._

"_You must. I don't want you to be either, but it is for the good of the family and the village. Pack your bags if you haven't already; you leave tonight."_

_She left the room and packed a bag, but not for the trip her father was telling her about. No, it was for one much different. When she was finished closing the bag she looked around the room one last time before opening a window and climbing over, shutting it carefully behind her and jumping onto the tree nearby. In seconds, she had scaled down it and was running towards the wood at the edge of the yard. No one even had a clue._

"Is there any left for me?" Kaoru jumped at the voice of someone behind him, wiping around to see who is was although he already knew from the voice.

"You're back? How's your foot?" Sasuke stood perched on crutched, his bad foot all wrapped up but not in a cast.

"I'll tell you after I get some food. Apparently hospital protocol is to starve you all night." He took a plate from Kaoru's hands and tried to walk to the little table in the middle of the room on his own, but after almost dropping the plate twice, eventually gave up and handed it back to Kaoru to carry.

After sitting down and laying his crutches on a wall next to him, Sasuke shoveled half of the food on his plate into him mouth in less than a minute. Kaoru only watched in a mixture of disgust and horror at the sight in front of him. "They have to send the x-rays to some specialist. There was a break, but apparently they are worried about something else that I didn't bother trying to understand."

"Huh? Oh… How long is that going to take?" Kaoru took a few bites of his own food before offering up the plate to Sasuke, who had already finished his own. The boy took the plate and continued to eat at the same insane pace.

He shrugged. "No idea. This is pretty good." Sasuke pointed to the omelet with his chopsticks, a piece of egg held between them.

"I wish I had some to know for myself." Sasuke glanced from the empty place in front of Kaoru to his plate.

"Too bad. It's mine now." He continued to eat, watching the boy in front of him sip at some sort of breakfast-in-a-can drink. While he felt bad about taking his food, there was no way he was giving it up.

"What are you doing today?" Kaoru finished his drink and stood to put the empty cup in the sink, grabbing Sasuke's original plate and his own on the way.

"I'm training you. Get dressed." He nodded to the stairs but Kaoru just stared at him.

"How are you planning on training me?" He glanced from the crutches to Sasuke, something not unnoticed by the older student.

"In my own way. Just go get dressed." Kaoru nodded slowly, before making his way up the stairs. As he started to change, something dawned on him.

Still pulling a sweatshirt over his head, Kaoru leaned over the edge of the railing on the top floor. "Why are you training me?"

"There's a meet coming up soon and since I won't be able to jump and I don't want Sai winning, you are jumping in place of me. Are you ready yet?" To answer the second question, Kaoru came back down, shoes around his neck once again. "First things first. Go over by my bed and grab the drawstring bag." Kaoru glanced at him curiously but did what he was told.

"This one?" He held up a school bag for Sasuke to confirm.

"Yes. Put your shoes in there." Kaoru did so and returned back to the desk area where Sasuke was. "That's yours from now on. Come on." He hobbled on the crutches to the door and tried to open it, but couldn't do so without dropping one of the crutches. Cursing, he bent to pick it up, but Kaoru beat him to it, grabbing the metal thing and opening the door in the same motion.

Sasuke walked out and he slid his feet into a pair of shoes, not having the time or patience to put them on correctly to take them off again in a minute. "Where are we going?"

"The gym. The mats should still be set up and it's the only place with a bar around here." As they walked multiple paths and didn't see a single student, Sasuke glanced around and at the sky. "What time is it anyway?"

"Last I checked, seven." Kaoru pulled a watch from his pocket. "Yeah, seven-oh-three."

"So that's why there is nobody else around…" Sasuke glanced at Kaoru while still trying his hardest to not trip with the crutches. "From now on, we are practicing this early on weekends." He left no room for argument, but it was fine with Kaoru, who had gotten up over an hour earlier to do just that.

When they reached the gym, Sasuke stopped to glare at the doors, leaving Kaoru to open them for him. As soon as they were inside, he flicked on the lights and watched as they slowly buzzed to life, illuminating the whole gym. Kaoru quickly changed shoes, stuffing the ones he wore to walk to the gym and his watch into the bag. "So, what are we doing?"

"First, you stretch. Then come see me." Kaoru nodded and began his stretches while Sasuke hobbled over to the bar. Carefully, so that he wouldn't drop his crutches, he set the bar and then sat at a table that must have been set up for Sai's trainer the night before. He sat down in the chair and pulled out his phone, setting it up for a camera before putting it down on the table to watch Kaoru stretch. "Hey! Come here!"

Kaoru jumped at Sasuke's shout and quickly was in front of him, wondering just what he did wrong. "You're going to screw up your knee if you do it like that. Don't cross your leg behind you when you grab it. Here." He stood on his one foot and grabbed Kaoru's lower leg, lifting it behind the boy while he tried to keep his balance, leaving Kaoru wondering how Sasuke managed to keep his own balance without putting his bad foot down. "Grab your ankle now."

Kaoru did so, holding his leg up as Sasuke had done. "Now stretch like you were before, but don't cross the leg over." He did it and Sasuke nodded. "Don't ever do it like you were before again. You can finish now." Kaoru did a few more stretches before standing in front of Sasuke again.

"Sasuke, do you hate Sai that much that you don't want him to win?"

"No." The answer surprised Kaoru, but Sasuke didn't give him much time to think about it. "Go get set to jump."

Kaoru nodded and stood at the mark on the ground before taking a small step forward to his starting point. "If you don't hate him, then why don't you want him to win?"

Sasuke didn't answer at first. "Go." Kaoru sighed but did what he was told, starting off and jumping, hitting the bar down. He set the bar back in place and returned to his mark.

"He—Sai needs to learn that talent is not all that matters; that you have work hard and practice too." Kaoru nodded and took off again, not noticing Sasuke was filming him. Again, he hit the bar. "You have to dip your head back a little more as soon as you clear the bar, and then drop your hips faster."

"Okay." Kaoru placed the bar on once again. "Why do you say it is not just talent?"

"Because he has more talent than me when it comes to high jump." Sasuke tapped his phone on the table, thinking about how to phrase what he wanted to say. "But why doesn't he beat me? He doesn't work as hard as I do. He relies on talent to stay where he is, while I improve by practicing."

Outside the gym, Gai leaned on the wall, listening to his student with a small smile on his face. "We need more kids like these two…"

"Do it again. You have to clear this bar ten times for us to finish today." Sasuke set up his camera again, filming Kaoru's technique again. Even though he knocked the bar off once again, Sasuke gave a slight smirk. "Nice job improving from last jump."

"How high is this bar anyways?" Kaoru glanced at it, wondering why he couldn't clear it.

"If I tell you, that will ruin the fun. I'll tell you after you've finished for today. Again." Kaoru sighed but set himself up and took off again, hitting the bar for another time. "Again."

And so they continued like that for over an hour, without Kaoru clearing the bar. "If you don't get it this time, we can give up on this and try again with it lower tomorrow." Sasuke watched as Kaoru took off, just knowing he would clear the bar this time.

As Kaoru flew over the bar and didn't feel it hit him, he didn't know whether to feel happy that he had finally done it, or exhausted that the training would go on until he did it another nine times now. "I knew you could do it. Nine more times now."

Kaoru sighed and rolled off of the mats, getting his water bottle to drink some before he practiced any more. "I'm going to die trying to do this."

"Then you died trying and you will have died better than Sai. Come on, just do it." Kaoru placed the bottle down on the table and returned to his starting spot. As he took off, the doors opened, but he didn't bother stopping as he jumped and cleared the bar.

"Sai." Sasuke nodded to the newcomer in greeting, but it wasn't one that could be considered respectful, just recognizing that the boy was there. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to train. Get out. And take him with you." He didn't even bother greeting them, dropping his things on the ground. When he looked up again and still saw them there, he sighed. "Why are you two still here?"

"We were in the middle of training. He still has to make eight jumps before I let him leave."

"He has a name, you know. Don't talk about me like I'm not here." Kaoru took another sip of water from his bottle, staring at Sai. The elder student glared at his two juniors.

Sasuke glanced from the bar to Sai. "Here's the deal. Kaoru's made this jump twice in the past hour we have been here. You raise it to 2.31 and if he makes the jump, we get the gym."

Sai looked from the bar to Kaoru, who seemed so short compared to it. "Deal."

"I've never jumped above 2.29, are you really betting on this?" Sasuke didn't answer, instead watching Sai as he looked at the markings before raising it a little.

"Did you forget what I said? 2.31." Sai's eyes widened slightly, while Kaoru glanced between the two. "That's what he was just jumping."

"What?" Again, Kaoru was ignored while Sasuke watched Sai lower it back down.

"Just go do it again." Kaoru nodded slightly to Sasuke, returning to his starting point for what felt like the millionth time that day. Sai backed up from the bar to watch this as Kaoru took a deep breath before starting he run. As he pushed off of his foot, Sasuke crossed his fingers, hoping he was right in trusting Kaoru to make it. Sai smirked a little, watching the boy, knowing he wouldn't make it. When Kaoru hit the mat, he kept his eyes closed, not really wanting to see if he would have another hour in torture or not. But, ever bird has to fly out of the nest at some point, so he cracked his eyes open the slightest bit to see, fearful of the result.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"We get the gym. Get out, Sai." The older boy glanced from the bar to Sasuke and finally to Kaoru.

"I look forward to competing against you." Without saying anything else, he grabbed his bag and walked out, leaving the two alone again.

"Seven more jumps. Come on Kaoru." The younger didn't say anything, still staring at the bar in disbelief. "You okay?"

"I've been jumping 2.31?" Sasuke nodded. "I've been jumping 2.31. Wow. Really?"

"Yes, now shut up and make your final seven jumps. He's going to wait for us, and he gets angry when he has to wait long." Kaoru nodded and made his way back to the starting point. The next jump he clipped the bar, but it stayed on. A few more were like that, but he managed to make the seven jumps.

When Sasuke finally said it was okay, Kaoru put his normal shoes back on and threw his things in his bag before the two made their way out of the gym. Sai was standing outside the door and glanced at Sasuke's crutches, but didn't say anything. Now that it was later in the morning, more students were moving around, and soon talk of Sasuke's injury was all around them, along with the questions about what he had been doing with Kaoru. He ignored them, but Kaoru couldn't tune out all the comments people were making. By the time they returned to their dorm, he was ready to scream at them.

"How do you keep calm with people were saying about you getting injured? I was ready to scream at them, and they weren't even talking about me." Kaoru threw his bag on his desk, listening to Sasuke hopping around, having left his crutches on the other side of the small area.

"People were talking about me? I just tune most things out after being chased around by girls and some guys." He shrugged, plopping himself down in his chair and opening his laptop.

"Being chase-right, Mr. Celebrity here. Olympic winner and best high jumper in his age group. You know, when I take those titles from you, you're going to regret training me." Kaoru sat himself down, opening his own laptop and opening a page.

"Like you ever could." Sasuke scoffed in good humor, typing away on his computer. _Is this what it is like to have a little brother? Or sister?_

"You never know. I did just jump 2.31. That's your record."

"Because no one ever gets up that high in our competitions and I don't feel like going through raising the record right now. I could if I tried. I'll admit you're good for a kid your size, but you'll never beat me." The two didn't speak for a few minutes, typing away with the only noise being the clicking of the keys, until something on Sasuke's computer beeped. "What do you want Itachi?"

"I can't call my little brother?" Kaoru didn't bother glancing behind him to see what was going on, letting Sasuke have as much privacy as expected in a dorm.

"You can call me, but making me video-chat with you is a little overboard." He clicked out of the screen to continue typing. "But what do you want?"

"First tell me who is sitting at the desk behind you." Sasuke sighed, lifting the laptop and spinning his chair to face Kaoru.

"My roommate. Kaoru, say hi to my brother." He clicked back to the screen so that Kaoru could see exactly who he was talking to, but the boy barely glanced over his shoulder.

"Hello." And he was back to writing.

"Happy now? You interrupted both me and my roommate. Just tell me what you want." Sasuke turned around again to face his desk, giving up on typing his essay at the moment to talk to his brother.

"I heard you got hurt. I wanted to know if you were okay."

"How the hell did you-Father told you. Of course." He saw his brother nod and sighed. "I'm on crutches and it's broken with something else they are worried about, but I didn't bother listening to what. They took an x-ray and sent it to some specialist. No idea when we are hearing back from him." Sasuke shrugged. "How's um… what are you doing now?"

"I'm a photographer at the moment." Itachi chuckled at his little brother. "I don't change jobs that often."

"You were a guitar player last week, a model the week before that, and you were trying to be my manager a month ago. I think that's pretty often." Kaoru couldn't help the snort from what Sasuke said, but he still focused on his essay.

"What are you guys doing?" Itachi tried to look at Kaoru in the background, but the camera wasn't of good enough quality to tell what the kid was doing.

"I'm working on an essay that's due Monday. I think Kaoru is too." The boy nodded to Sasuke. "Yeah, he is. And you are sort of interrupting us…"

"I don't care. I have something else to ask you. I'm short a model for shoot tomorrow, do you know someone at your school who would be willing to do it?"

"It depends…" Sasuke's eyes flickered to the side, as if trying to see Kaoru without turning around, before looking up to think about it.

"On what?"

"What type of person you need and if you are going to pay?" Sasuke saw his brother sigh at the second part. "What, you can't pay them?"

"We're short on the budget and the other model already took the pay and we can't track him down to get it back. But we need a flower boy, and short, small." Itachi shrugged. "If you can't find someone, it's okay."

"No, I have a person in mind…" Sasuke turned to face Kaoru again and his brother smirked, realizing where this was going. "Hey, Kaoru."

"What?"

"Will you model for my brother's photo shoot tomorrow?" The boy turned around to refuse, only to get a full look of Itachi at the same time the photographer got a good look at him.

"Y-you!" Kaoru almost jumped out of his chair in shock when he realized who was Sasuke's brother. "You're his brother?"

"You're his roommate?" Itachi seemed about as surprised as Kaoru, but for a different reason.

"I take it you two know each other?" Sasuke looked between the two, who both nodded at the same time. "Do I even want to know?"

Kaoru shook his head at the same time Itachi nodded. As the elder went to speak, Kaoru's eyes pleaded with him to not tell, even getting on his knees to beg for him to not reveal just how they knew each other.

Itachi eventually gave in. "I gave him music lessons a few years ago. He was pretty good, so I never understood why he gave up music. But, will you do the shoot tomorrow? Please?"

Kaoru sighed, knowing he was in debt for Itachi not revealing it all. "Fine. What do I have to do?"

"Just act all nice and flower boy-ish." Itachi waved at the two. "Bye."

"Flower boy? You've got to be freaking kidding me." He was talking to a black screen now, so he turned to Sasuke. "Why does it have to be a flower boy? Why?"

"You are pretty much a flower boy though…" He stopped talking at the glare from Kaoru. "Come on. If not for my brother, for me."

"I said I'm doing it already. But let me ask you something." He turned back to his writing, but Sasuke was still facing him, waiting.

"Hn?"

"Do you care about your brother that much?" He stopped typing but didn't turn back around.

"Uh… yeah…" He didn't say anything else at first, but Kaoru knew more what coming. "He's my older brother, but many times, he's more a kid than me. Eight years ago, he was drafted into the war on his sixteenth birthday. And when he came back, he was different. He doesn't like holding a job for long, no matter how good at it he is, and he doesn't really care about himself. Our father gave up on him, but I still worry about Itachi."

"Oh…" There wasn't much else Kaoru could really say to that, but he made up his mind to do the shoot tomorrow as best as he could.

"We're going to miss lunch if we sit here much longer. Let's go. And don't tell anyone what I just told you." Kaoru nodded to Sasuke before getting up and grabbing his crutches for him so he wouldn't have to hop for them again. The air was still serious from what Sasuke had just told him, but Kaoru could tell the older boy was trying hard to let it go, so he didn't bring it up again and tried to help lighten the mood, opening the door for Sasuke to go out first.

They weren't the only students hurrying to not miss the beginning of lunch, and those around them stopped to stare at Sasuke's crutches, talking amongst their friends about it. As they passed a group of students younger than them, their conversation was audible to the two. "You know why the new kid is helping Uchiha so much? Cause he's the one who hurt him and it was his punishment."

Kaoru had been looking anywhere but at them and Sasuke when he heard the sound of Sasuke's crutches hitting the floor beside him stop. When he turned to his roommate, Sasuke wasn't there, but by the students that had been talking. "What did you just say?"

"That your little helper was the one who screwed up your foot." Before he knew it, Sasuke was grabbing the collar of his shirt, one of his crutches abandoned to fall to the floor in the midst of it.

"You little-"

"Sasuke." Kaoru pried the older boy's hand off the kid's uniform, the boy too scared to do it himself. "Just ignore him." He bent down and grabbed Sasuke's crutch, handing it back to the boy. "If he wants to spread lies, let him. However," he turned to the younger yet taller boy, "I would not recommend you doing so. I am not going to be able to stop anyone who tries to kick your sorry ass."

Not giving Sasuke any more time to try and hurt the kid. Kaoru pushed him forward a little, forcing him to walk or fall on his face. Sasuke chose the former and continued on his way, the murmurs around them silenced for the moment being.

"I thought you don't listen to what others say?" Kaoru smirked when Sasuke couldn't respond to him. "You don't have to do that, you know."

"I don't even know why I did," he muttered under his breath, but Kaoru managed to hear it. However, it didn't seem to matter to the boy.

"It's nice having someone actually do something for me, and you've done a lot. Thank you." It was random to Sasuke, with little meaning, but to Kaoru, it meant the world.

"Then you can do me a favor and carry my stuff." Kaoru only nodded, and once they reached cafeteria, grabbed two trays, taking his lunch along with Sasuke's. By the time he set them down on their table, the cafeteria was pretty much filled up, most of Sasuke's friends—he couldn't yet call them his friends, because he had yet to see them outside of that first meeting, school classes, and meals—at the table and eating their food.

Sasuke sat down first, dropping his crutches to the floor with nowhere else to put them. "Dude, what happened?" Kiba glanced between Kaoru helping Sasuke with everything and the injured friend. "Is it true, that he did it?"

"Where did you hear that from?" Sasuke's eyes couldn't hide the anger he felt and Kiba automatically flinched back from it.

"Some younger students. Is it true?" He looked away, knowing it was useless to try and fight against the stare, but he could still feel it trying to pierce his head.

"No." He didn't say anything more and began eating, leaving those who didn't know what happened wondering.

"He got hurt competing against Kaoru." Neji didn't even look up from his plate as he spoke, ignoring Sasuke's glare when it turned to him.

"Why were you competing against him?" Naruto looked between the two, before something came to him. "Aren't you," he looked at Kaoru, "a track star or something?"

"You could call him that." Neji pushed the food around on his plate before pushing it away from him, not really hungry now that the conversation was going in this direction.

"What?" Naruto turned to Neji for answers, even though it was useless.

"Kaoru kicked Neji's butt in their race for a spot on the team." Lee came from seemingly nowhere, slinging his arm over both Kaoru's and Neji's shoulders at the same time, his tray appearing on the table between them, before he sat in the middle of the two. "I'd been walking by their race and saw. It was pretty interesting."

Naruto's eyes widened at the news that Neji had been beaten and he turned to stare at Kaoru. "Y-you beat Neji?" The boy slowly nodded. "No freaking way."

"Shut up man! I still want to know why Sasuke was competing against him." Kiba smacked Naruto's head to quiet the boy down. "The soccer team never is this interesting. It's like a drama or something on their team."

Sasuke sighed, knowing there was no getting out of telling it now that they knew about Kaoru racing to be on the team. "Kaoru? You want to tell them?" Kaoru shook his head, earning another sigh from Sasuke. "Kaoru high jumps. Gai had him compete against me to see how good he is."

"And…?" Naruto motioned for Sasuke to continue with his hands, knocking a glass off the table as he did so. However, he caught it on his foot and lifted it back to the table. "Like a fragile soccer ball…" He smiled at the saved glass before turning to Sasuke again. "How'd you end up on crutches?"

"I jumped wrong." Sasuke stopped to eat, before sensing Naruto's next question. "He's not bad."

"Neji?" Everyone turned to face the other track team member at the table when Naruto called his name and the boy choked on a bite of his apple when all attention was turned to him. "He jumped 2.28."

"Just one question." Shine joined the conversation for the first time, breaking his normally-silent demeanor. "Why are we talking about Kaoru like he's not here?"

The question left everyone questioning it, but Kaoru just shrugged off any apologetic glances they tried to give him. "I'm used to it. Just continue if you want."

A few little conversations sparked up after, but nothing major for the rest of lunch. When Sasuke finished his lunch, Kaoru shoveled a last few bites in before taking the older boy's tray and going to return them to the counter. With him gone, Sasuke looked at the others. "He's already reached my record jump."

A few of the boys choked on their food at the random and surprising statement, and Naruto even dropped his chopsticks, staring at Sasuke. "What?"

"I was seeing if he could do it this morning and he already reached 2.31. Sai even saw it." Sasuke grabbed his crutches and stood up. "And tell people what really happened with me getting hurt. It's annoying having everyone think my roommate is trying to kill me." He hobbled away from the table to meet up with Kaoru, who was just heading back, leaving the rest of his friends confused at the table.

"What did Kaoru do to change him like that?" Kiba glanced between the two who were walking out of the cafeteria. "Not that I mind. He's not pissy anymore." He didn't get an answer, because no one knew.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"So where's your brother's studio or whatever?" Kaoru leaned back into the couch, playing some games on Sasuke's phone while the other boy was trying to do pull-ups on the second floor railing, his feet dangling in the middle of the room.

"No idea. He's going to pick us up and drive us there." Sasuke stopped his exercises and tried to put his foot back on the stood he'd used to get up in the first place, but he'd kicked it out of place at some point and couldn't reach it now. He refused to ask for help, so he swung himself back and forth a few times, trying to gain enough momentum to reach the stool. However, it was still just a few inches out of his reach.

With nothing else to do, he kicked a pillow from the couch and dropped down onto it, making sure not to hit his bad foot. Kaoru barely glanced up from the screen at the sound of Sasuke falling. "You okay?" He got no reply and saw Sasuke standing up slowly. "You could have asked me to help you, you know."

"I meant to do that." They both knew it was a lie, but Kaoru let it pass, glancing at the time on the phone.

"What time is your brother picking us up?" Sasuke took off his shirt and used it to mess up his hair while glancing at a clock beside his bed, shrugging.

"How about now? Little brother, you should put a shirt on." Itachi appeared from around the corner, a set of car keys dangling from a single finger. "You guys should really lock the door."

"…It was locked." Kaoru looked at Itachi before hopping the couch he was sitting on to look at their door. Nothing seemed broken and he turned back to Sasuke, completely confused as to how the elder boy got in.

"Well then, you need a new lock. Why haven't you put a shirt on yet?" Sasuke sighed, motioning to the dresser Itachi had perched himself on. Finally, his brother moved and Sasuke was able to get a new shirt to put on. "Are you guys ready to go?"

"Sure. Kaoru, grab me a hat." Sasuke grabbed his crutches and started towards the door, Itachi following behind him slower. Kaoru grabbed a random hat from Sasuke's growing collection on their shelves and caught up with the other two, making sure to lock the door behind them when they left. "Thanks," Sasuke threw the hat on over his messy hair, making it look at least a little neater than before. "Where's your car?"

"Outside of the main building." Sasuke nodded and started on his way there. Kaoru went to follow him, but Itachi grabbed his elbow and held him back so that they could walk far enough away that Sasuke wouldn't hear them. "Hinata, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I was going to be married off to some stranger if I didn't get out…" Kaoru kicked a pebble in front of him. "I refuse to be treated like property."

"So you came here of all places?" Itachi motioned to the grounds around them. "If you wanted to run away, you should have gotten out of the village. Not gone to an all-boys athletic school when you are a girl. You do know you are going to be found out eventually." He glanced at the smaller kid next to him. "You had me make you fake papers so that you could get into here?" Kaoru nodded, looking very meek to Itachi's eyes. "I should be telling someone that a girl is living in my brother's dorm…" He glanced to Kaoru and saw him pleading with his eyes. "Why does it have to be you of all people? I could have easily done it for anyone else…"

"So you won't tell?" Itachi slowly shook his head. "Thank you!"

"Just don't hurt my brother. Understood?" Kaoru nodded, knowing it was a small thing to do in return for what Itachi was doing for him, and it was definitely not something that he would ever plan on doing. "Good."

By the time they reached the car, Sasuke was already sitting front seat, the radio on and waiting for the two. "What took you so long?"

"We were talking." Itachi slid into the driver's seat and started the car while Kaoru climbed into the back, trying to not knock over Sasuke's crutches as he did so. _This is going to be interesting._

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Kaoru, pet the puppy!" The small boy sighed, holding the small puppy in his arms closer and stroking its head gently. "Act cute or something!"

Wanting more than anything to curse Itachi out, Kaoru lifted the small dog and rubbed its nose against his own, smiling slightly when its tail began to wag. Cameras were clicking all around him and the heat from the huge lamps was stifling, but Kaoru continued the shoot like a professional. The other models seemed entertained by the young boy dressed in what could very well be a little kid's outfit and playing with a puppy while they all held much more professional poses that did not involve squirming animals or multiple clothing changes.

"Great! Next set!" The puppy got lifted from Kaoru's hands and replaced with a school uniform on a hanger and instructions to change into it. Returning to a makeup and changing room for the umpteenth time, Kaoru changed once again from the outfit in a minute and sat down for the makeup to be removed and replaced.

Sasuke sat on the side, watching the whole shoot as his brother took pictures perfectly for an intern, directing Kaoru around while other photographers were in charge of the senior models. When Kaoru came out once again in a different outfit, Sasuke couldn't help but smirk at the innocent little kid he now looked like. It was a middle school uniform, but Kaoru looked the age and size, answering Sasuke unasked question of why Itachi had asked for a flower boy. He was handed a backpack and a pair of glasses was perched on his face, making Sasuke remember Kaoru's first morning not so long ago.

After another hour of torture for Kaoru, including three more costume changes, and of humor for Sasuke, they were piling back into Itachi's car. "You guys want dinner?"

"You did make us miss it at school." Sasuke nodded to the time, two hours past the end of dinner.

"Thank you." Kaoru would have dipped his head in thanks to Itachi, but he was too busy trying to remove makeup that the artists had left on that now didn't want to come off.

"You're going to need makeup remover to get that off. It's made to stay on under the heat from the lights." Kaoru bit back a curse when Itachi told him that, leaning back in his seat and giving up on the makeup making him look much younger than he was. "What do you guys want?"

"Anything. Just go somewhere." Following Sasuke's bad instructions, Itachi pulled into a random restaurant. When Kaoru saw the sign, he almost cursed at his luck. _Why Ichiraku's Ramen of all places?_

Itachi and Sasuke both glanced at Kaoru as they got out of the car; the boy looked like he had seen a ghost as soon as they had pulled in. "You okay?"

"What? Oh, yeah." Kaoru shrugged off Sasuke's question, not bothering to answer. Letting it be, they walked inside, and once again, it didn't go unnoticed by either Uchiha was Kaoru kept his eyes on the ground, his hair falling into his face. _Is this the place that Hinata always went as a kid?_ Sasuke wanted to curse his luck when he realized it was, all the pieces falling into place when that fact came to mind.

"Hey Kaoru? What do you want?" Sasuke nudged the boy with one of his crutches to get an order from him.

"Just a miso ramen." Sasuke nodded before looking at his brother, who nodded to him too.

"Both of you sit at a table. I'll order. Your usual, Sasuke?" Itachi pulled out his wallet as he spoke, taking out a few bills to cover the cost of it.

"Yeah." Sasuke hit Kaoru's leg with one hid crutches to get the boy's attention before nodding to a table in the corner. "Sit there." Kaoru only nodded and started to maneuver around the chairs and tables between them, pushing things out of the way for Sasuke to follow behind. They sat in a silence for a few minutes before Itachi appeared with a tray balanced in his hands, a few bowls on it. Kaoru was handed his single bowl and Itachi put the other four on the tray in front of Sasuke before going back to the counter and returning with another full tray.

Sasuke began to eat the bowls of ramen like no tomorrow but still seeming dignified somehow. Kaoru ate his single bow much slower, amazed at Sasuke still eating the ramen. Itachi himself had two bowls, the other three on the tray being added to Sasuke's line up. "He could probably go through this twice and still be hungry, but my wallet is only so big." Itachi smiled at Kaoru, motioning with his chopsticks to the pile of bowls that was forming by Sasuke.

"I'm just hungry and ramen is good. But nowhere near tomatoes." Sasuke paused in his eating only to say that, going back the food quickly. By the time Kaoru finished his bowl, Sasuke was halfway through the seven.

They talked about random things that really had no meaning and were easily forgotten while Itachi and Kaoru waiting for Sasuke to finished. By the time he had, the sun was long gone and the moon high in the sky. "We missed practice."

"I told coach we weren't going to be there. It's not like I could do anything anyway." Sasuke sat in the car and held his crutches out to Kaoru to take to the back with him, earning a chuckle from Itachi.

"Is he your slave or something?" But he still got in the car and turned it on, looking to Kaoru before he pulled away. "Don't let my brother boss you around. It goes to his head too much." Sasuke muttered something in reply while sitting back in his seat and crossing his arms over his chest like a little kid.

As Itachi drove off back to the school, Kaoru watched the village fly by past his window, not talking or anything. Itachi and Sasuke stayed silent in the front, but both kept sneaking glances in the mirror at him. When Kaoru pulled a music player out of his pocket and put the ear buds in his ear, Sasuke turned to Itachi. "You know, don't you?"

"Know what, little brother?" Itachi kept his gaze on the road, playing the innocent act perfectly.

"About Hinata and Kaoru." Sasuke saw Itachi's eyes widen slightly before quickly going back to normal. "So you do know… Don't tell anyone."

"What are you planning on doing to her?"

"Letting her have her dream…" Sasuke glanced back in the mirror to make sure Kaoru still couldn't hear them. "She talks in her sleep, about a lot of things."

"Or did you just read her diary?" Itachi smirked, not expecting there to actually be such a thing just lying around.

"…Maybe. I did some digging around and it just fell out of one of her bags." He glanced in the mirror to see Kaoru taking one the ear buds out.

"What are you guys talking about?" Itachi still focused on the road, leaving the lie up to Sasuke.

"The shoot. You were really good so Itachi wanted to know if he could have your number in case he needed another model again." Sasuke crossed his fingers and saw his brother smirk a little at the lie, giving him a slight nod.

"Oh, um… Really?" Itachi nodded to Kaoru.

"I was asking my brother for your cell number. He said he didn't know." Kaoru gripped the player in his hands a little tighter, looking down. "What?"

"I don't have a cell phone…" He seemed so meek saying the simple sentence, like it was something to be ashamed of that he didn't.

"Use my old one. Around here, everyone should have a phone. I'll give it to you back at the dorm." Sasuke turned to look out the window as they got closer to the school, his eyes scanning the people around the city, catching on the not so good ones. "Stop the car."

"What?" Itachi slowed a little but didn't stop completely. Sasuke didn't seem to care at all, opening the door and hopping out, shuffling on his bad foot but walking somewhere with a purpose. Kaoru jumped out after him, grabbing his crutches and racing after him.

"What are you doing?!" Sasuke grabbed the crutches and threw himself on them quickly, not slowing his pace or explaining. Before Kaoru could ask again, a scream pierced through the air and he turned to see a man grabbing a woman into an alley, nobody else around to stop it. Sasuke raced forward, but Kaoru was faster, running the short distance to the alleyway and stopping in the opening. The man had pinned the woman to the wall, muffling her screams with his hand.

Kaoru grabbed his shoulder and spun him around to face him, pulling his fist back to punch him in the same motion. The attacker let go of the woman to try and punch Kaoru, try to free himself, but Kaoru ducked under the punch and threw his own into the man's face, feeling his nose crunch under his knuckles when it contacted. The man stumbled back, grabbing at his nose gushing blood, just as Sasuke appeared in the mouth of the alley. The woman looked between Kaoru and her attacker before running behind Sasuke and grabbing onto him to hide her. Sasuke stumbled under her hold, but stayed in place, held there by the lady.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Kaoru stalked towards the man, who scrambled back, still on the ground.

"L-l-listen twerp. I don't want no problems, I don't mean to hurt anyon-" Kaoru punched him again before he could stand back up, as he had been trying to do.

"You don't want to hurt anyone? Than what were you going to do to her? Huh?" When the man didn't answer, Kaoru crouched down to his level. "I asked, what were you going to do to her?" He still didn't answer, and Kaoru twirled out of the way of a punch aimed for his face, grabbing the arm and standing in the same motion, landing behind the man and forcing him to kneel as he put a foot on the middle of the man's back.

"Kaoru, stop." Sasuke tried to walk forward with the woman still grabbing him. "Itachi called the police, so stop."

"How do you expect me to stop when this guy was going to rape her?!" Kaoru's face was filled with rage at the mere thought of it, and he pressed down harder on the man's back. As sirens came closer and lights started to flash into the alley, Kaoru still didn't let go. And as the officers came closer, the woman screamed, pointing to the man. When Kaoru and Sasuke both looked down, the first thing both of them saw was the glint of a blade in the flashing lights as it was aimed to be buried into Kaoru's stomach.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Little bastard." Kaoru jumped away from the blade as it was swung, but it still caught his stomach to cut him good. In seconds, he'd kicked the man's hand and was standing on it, hearing the fingers crunch under his foot. "Don't try and play a trick like that again."

The voices of police officers were heard as a few raced to the alley, pulling Sasuke and the lady out of the way as they held their guns aimed at Kaoru and the man. Kaoru let go of the man's arm to hold his hands up in the air, kicking the man when he tried to scramble for the knife. Two officers lowered their guns and jogged forward to the two, getting Kaoru off of the man and handcuffing him immediately. Kaoru couldn't help but smirk at the crushed fingers on the one hand.

But when cold metal bit against his own skin, he jumped. "Why are you handcuffing me? I didn't do anything but stop him!"

"You attacked him." He felt a hand in between his should blades, pushing him forward. "Walk."

Kaoru stumbled and looked up to see Sasuke and Itachi trying to explain what happened to another officer, pointing to him occasionally. The woman was nodding along with their story, but the officer they were talking to shook his head. "Kid, we are talking about a $10,000 bail here. Your friend attacked a man."

"To save a person he was attacking!" The officer still shook his head, and Sasuke sighed. "Ten thousand, you said? Itachi, go get it from my account."

"W-what?" Itachi looked at the shining silver card Sasuke was pulling from his wallet.

"I said go get it from my account. Just do it." Itachi went to refuse, but Sasuke turned to stare him deep in the eyes, his glare piercing. "Just. Do. It."

Itachi nodded and took off running to his car, speeding off seconds after that to the nearest bank. "Kid, you're interfering with a police investigation."

"And you're trying to arrest an innocent boy who helped save someone's life. And you are refusing him medical attention when he was injured in doing so. I know my laws and can go back and forth with you for hours on this." Sasuke leaned on his crutches more, watching out of the corner of his eye as an officer sat Kaoru in a car but left the door open, standing outside of it and looking back at him. "I request you take him out of that car."

"You're not his guardian." The officer smirked, thinking he had caught Sasuke.

"His parents are dead; he has no legal guardian: and is in the care of me and my older brother at the moment. He is also a student of Konoha Academy of Athletics, so technically the teachers are his guardians. But you won't deal with a school teacher, now will you? And if you will, his name is Hatake Kakashi." The officer cursed under his breath before talking into his radio, getting a muffled reply back that Sasuke didn't bother listening to.

"Tell your brother to meet us at the station; we have to take the kid there to get your teacher. And you have to come with us." The officer nodded to the car Kaoru was in. "Get in. Miss, you're going in that car." He pointed to another before a different officer came and guided her away from Sasuke and into other car. Sasuke knew there was nothing he could do, so he texted Itachi the change in what was happening and crawled into the backseat with Kaoru.

"My brother and I are dealing with this, okay?" Sasuke whispered to Kaoru, who seemed to be scared out of his mind.

"I won't ever be able to pay you back… You don't have to do this." Kaoru looked too innocent to be in the handcuffs, and Sasuke sighed when he saw just how tight they had been put on Kaoru's wrists.

"I'm not watching an innocent person get put in jail, especially at fifteen. Just pay me back by fulfilling your dream, okay?" Kaoru slowly nodded to Sasuke before sitting back in the seat, tears pricking at his eyes. As one spilled over, Sasuke couldn't help but shake his head. _Who would have known innocent Hinata would end up getting arrested in high school? But she doesn't deserve this._ "Don't worry. It'll all be paid for by the time we get there."

"Are they calling a teacher?" It was evident on Kaoru's face just the thought of that was half of his fear.

"Kakashi. But he's cool. He's done stuff like this before." Sasuke knew that wasn't exactly true, but he said it with a smile to not worry Kaoru.

"He's bailed kids out of jail before?"

"Not quite…" Sasuke saw Kaoru's face fall. "But he has picked up kids who have gotten drunk at clubs and stuff before."

"That's not bailing someone out of jail!" Kaoru hissed at Sasuke, his eyes turning to slits to try and hold the tears back.

"He's not bailing you out, just acting as a guardian representative from the school." Sasuke patted Kaoru on the shoulder. "Don't worry. Go to sleep or something if it makes it better."

Kaoru tried to glare at the older boy but it didn't go so well, so he eventually gave up and leaned back in the seat again, his head tipping back and his eyes closing slowly. After a few minutes, Sasuke knew he was asleep.

When they finally reached the station a while later, Sasuke shook Kaoru to wake him up slightly. "We got here. Come on, get up."

Kaoru followed groggily, forgetting his was handcuffed for a time and getting them stuck on the door to the point Sasuke had to help him off. "Follow me." The officers stuffed the two into a room, giving them some water and leaving them to be.

"How's your cut?" Sasuke gestured to the tear in Kaoru's shirt and the gash on his side.

"I've seen better days but I'm not going to die…" Kaoru leaned back into the chair, yawning. "You told me I could sleep and then woke me up… You're mean."

"We pulled into a freaking police station. It's not like I could carry you in. If you want to sleep again, be my guest. Now there will be someone that can carry you if you do." Kaoru nodded, not even bothering to respond, and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep in seconds.

After what felt like forever to Sasuke, Kakashi finally walked through the door, followed by Itachi. "You two are going to be the death of me."

"They tried to arrest him for protecting someone." Sasuke didn't even bother glancing at Kakashi as he responded to the teacher.

"And then they found him innocent after the woman told her story and are letting him go. And the bank wouldn't let me take $10,000 out anyways." Itachi returned the card to Sasuke before looking at Kaoru. "Is he sleeping? In a police station?"

"Don't question it and just pick him up." Sasuke stood and grabbed his crutches, following after Kakashi out of the room. As they neared the doors, the sound of many people outside hit Sasuke's ears. "Who's all out there?"

"Reporters. News got out that two Konoha Academy students got arrested. Just put your hood up and look down." Itachi pulled Kaoru's hood over his sleeping head as he told Sasuke. "Don't say anything."

"Wasn't planning on it." Sasuke pulled his hood up and lowered his head a little before they walked out of the station. The crowd tried to converge around them, but Kakashi cleared the way for the others, leading the way to his own car. Without a word, Sasuke and Itachi climbed in.

After pulling away from the reporters, Itachi was dropped off to return to get his car. Sasuke went to follow him, but Itachi shook his head. "Stay. Go back to school. I think you've caused enough trouble for the rest of the year."

Sasuke slowly nodded and sat back in the seat, looking at a passed out Kaoru. "I just have one question. What the hell happened?"

Kakashi started driving while Sasuke tried to think of how to word it. "We were driving back and I saw the woman being attacked. I'd tried to help, but Kaoru got there before me and the guy tried to attack him too so Kaoru fought back and then the man pulled a knife. That's about when the police came, after Kaoru crushed the man's hand for cutting him."

The grip on the steering wheel tightened. "You two are going to be the death of me."

"We've already established this fact." Sasuke leaned back in the seat. "You should look at Kaoru when we get back. They refused to even give him a bandage."

Kakashi could only sigh, driving the rest of the way back to the school in silence. When they finally pulled in, Kakashi parked his car before opening the door for Sasuke and lifting Kaoru out, letting him still sleep. "Does he even eat? He's like a feather."

"You'd be amazed." Sasuke followed after Kakashi as they walked through the empty halls of the school so late at night. When they finally reached Kakashi's office, Kaoru was stirring slightly. Kakashi placed him down on the bed before getting a few things and putting on gloves before lifting Kaoru's shirt slightly to see the cut.

Sasuke could only watch in morbid fascination as Kakashi poured rubbing alcohol over the huge gash and it first ran out red. After he cleaned it completely and bandaged it, Kaoru finally sat up, rubbing his eyes. "I fall asleep for a little and wake up to something being poured over my stomach…" He glanced around. "When did we get here?"

"I'll explain in the morning. We should get back to our dorm." Sasuke started to walk out, only for Kakashi to shove a note into his hand. He read it quickly before glancing up. "We don't have class tomorrow?"

"For if you two don't feel like going. Today was pretty interesting for you." Kakashi waved them out of the room before walking out himself, locking the door behind him and going to his own room on the campus.

By the time Kaoru and Sasuke got to their dorm, it was lights out. Kaoru opened the door without putting the key in before pausing and thinking for a second. "I locked that."

"We need a new lock then." Sasuke pushed past Kaoru to get into the room. "I'm going to sleep." Kaoru only nodded, letting Sasuke use the bathroom first as he gathered his own things and changed on his floor. After a while of leaning on the wall outside the bathroom, completely ready for sleep except for brushing his teeth, Kaoru sighed and punched the wall. "Are you done yet? I just want to brush my teeth."

The door popped open but Sasuke hopped back to the sink, toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. Kaoru didn't even need to be told what to do, walking in and grabbing his toothbrush, running it under the water and putting a glob of toothpaste on it before scrubbing his teeth with it. Sasuke finished first and placed him brush back before walking out of the room, leaving Kaoru alone for a minute as he finished.

When he did, the younger boy walked out of the room to a pitch black dorm and Sasuke already in bed. Kaoru blindly made his way up the stairs, using his hands to guide himself. Once on his bed, he grabbed a book light and a journal from under his mattress, opening it to a new page and turning on the light to the lowest setting. As he began to write, Sasuke laid underneath one his own bed, staring up at the ceiling, listening to the sound of Kaoru's pen against paper. Silently, he climbed on the edge of his bed and grabbed onto the railing of Kaoru's floor, using it to pull himself up. "What are you doing?"

Kaoru jumped at Sasuke's head between the bars, slamming the notebook in his hands shut. "Nothing. I thought you were asleep."

Sasuke glanced between the notebook and Kaoru. "Do you keep a diary?"

"No." Seeing Sasuke wouldn't give up, Kaoru opened it up to a random page and shoved it in Sasuke's face. "I write music. Remember, your brother gave me lessons a few times." Sasuke nodded, reading the lyrics before they were torn away from in front of him. "I'm going to sleep." The little light was turned off and Kaoru sunk under the blanket on his bed, leaving Sasuke to lower himself back down on his own. As the two lay down to sleep, the only thing either could think of was how the day ended up like it had. Neither could find an answer to what caused the change.

OoOoOoOoOoO

When Sasuke finally woke up the next morning, Kaoru was already up and completely dressed, cooking something in their little dorm kitchen. "We missed breakfast." He piled most of the food onto the plate before walking across the dorm to Sasuke's bed and handing him it before he was even fully awake.

"Thanks." Sasuke took the plate and sat up in bed, eating it as soon as he could. "This is good."  
Kaoru only nodded, finishing whatever was cooking and then placing that on his own plate, sitting down on a chair by Sasuke's bed. "Are you planning on going to class today?"

Sasuke shrugged. "We probably should…" He glanced at his clock by his bed. "At least for the second half of the day." He finished up the rest of the food on his plate before standing up, grabbing one of his crutches and using it to hop to the kitchen and put the plate in the sink. A minute later, Kaoru was there with his own plate, washing it.

"You just get ready; I'll deal with all of this." He pushed Sasuke out of the way and started washing the dished by hand, putting them away when they were clean. Sasuke eventually let the boy do as he wanted, hopping back to the bed and grabbing his shower bag along with his uniform and making his way to the bathroom. A few minutes later, Kaoru heard the shower turn on.

With Sasuke getting ready, Kaoru climbed back up the staircase to his little floor and started searching through his drawers for something. When he finally found it, he sat back with a little smile and grabbed a sticky note, writing a quick little note and sticking it to the thing in his hand before returning to the main floor and putting it on top of Sasuke's bed after making it. On the pillow lay a pair of red and blue shoelaces and the note. _They've helped me win, maybe they will help you._


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Are you ready yet? We are going to be late if you don't hurry." Sasuke tried to grab things as fast as he could while Kaoru stood in the door out of their room, holding both his and Sasuke's bags and waiting for Sasuke. As the older boy finished the last of the things he was ding, he saw the shoelaces on his pillow and read the note quickly.

With a slight smile, he hurried to the door before Kaoru could say anything else and the two rushed to their first afternoon class, math, as fast as they could. They got there just before the bell and as Kaoru put Sasuke's bag down for the older boy and took his crutches, murmurs were already going around the class about what happened to Sasuke. Sasuke ignored them and gave Kaoru a look telling him to do the same.

With a sigh, Kaoru listened and sat down in his seat just as the teacher walked in, calling the class to attention. All the students quieted down and the class started, taking the center stage in Sasuke and Kaoru's minds as they paid attention to the lesson they both already knew.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Ready for practice?"

"Yeah." Kaoru threw his bag over his shoulder as he raced down the steps from his floor to where Sasuke was waiting for him, changed from his school uniform but not in his training clothes either. "You're coming?"

"I'm still part of the team. And you have to get ready for the meet." They started out, Kaoru locking the door behind him before remembering it was broken and just leaving it. "You do know you can change in the locker room for practice, right?"

"I don't feel like doing so. Then another set of clothes will just get dirty after I get all sweaty from practice and I already do enough laundry as is." Students around them parted as Sasuke led the way, unknowingly showing off his popularity to Kaoru. The younger boy was only too used to it by now and just followed after Sasuke, ignoring those around them.

When they finally got to practice, they were some of the last to arrive. All of the team stopped to look at Sasuke on his crutches, but the boy only made his way up to Gai. "Kaoru's jumping for me in the meet next week."

The statement left most of the team in shock that Sasuke would request who would _replace_ him, but nobody said anything in fear of angering him. "Okay then." Gai just nodded to Sasuke. "We'll work on your practice later then, Kaoru."

"I'll train him." Again, Sasuke was leaving the team in shock, and Kaoru could only stand there awkwardly as multiple people turned to stare at him now. His gaze turned down and he scuffed the toe of his shoe against the floor to not see the stares directed at him, but he could still feel them. "Just leave it to me."

"Well okay then. But I shall help you do so." Gai blew his whistle to gain the attention of the whole team, although it was unnecessary with everyone already staring at Sasuke and Kaoru. "Listen up! Those of you who are in the upcoming meet are to train hard today. You know who you are. Anyone else is to find a participant of the meet and be their training partner until the day of. Understood?" A chorused yes came back, and Gai smiled. "Then get to it."

As the other boys broke off into pairs and a few younger students were left alone, Sasuke turned to Kaoru. "Stretch. Now."

Kaoru wasted no time in listening, quickly putting on his proper shoes and stretching as fast as he could. By the time the gym had emptied of the kids, most of which had gone to the track or soccer field to practice, Kaoru was finished stretching and waiting for Sasuke's next direction. The elder student looked from the bar to Kaoru before hobbling over to it and raising it slightly. When he finished, he sat down at the table before nodded to Kaoru. "Just like last time. 15 jumps."

With a sigh, Kaoru nodded and found his starting place. Gai watched the two from a distance as Kaoru took off running and hit the bar, bringing it down with him from jump. He reset it and returned back to his place. For the first few jumps, he kept hitting the bar, and Gai began to wonder if it was going to be a good idea having him compete in a week. The coach made his way over to Sasuke, who was once again filming Kaoru from the table. "What's it at?"

Kaoru took off and Sasuke didn't answer at first, watching him run. It was after Kaoru cleared the bar that Sasuke finally did. "He just beat my record. It's at 2.32." Gai's eyes widened at the news before looking at Kaoru closer as the boy rolled over on the mats and saw the bar still up in the air. There was a slight victory in his eyes, but Sasuke shot it down in seconds. "14 more!"

Kaoru seemed dejected that Sasuke ruined his little victory and Sasuke saw it, but didn't say anything until he was getting set again. "And nice jump!"

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Ow!" Kaoru shot up in his bed, barely dodging another flying object to his face, holding a hand over his eye that had already been hit. "Why are you throwing things at me?"

"I need those shoes back." Sasuke didn't even bother standing from the couch that had a perfect view into Kaoru's little room, waiting for the younger boy to drop his shoes back down. "I needed to wake you up so we don't miss the bus."

"So you throw shoes at me?" He rolled off the edge of his bed, falling onto the floor and popping back up a few seconds later pulling a sweatshirt over his head.

"It's not like I could get up there."

Kaoru only grumbled as he started down the stairs, wiping the sleep from his eyes. When he reached the main floor, the first thing he did was go to their mini-fridge and pull out the ice cube tray, holding one of the cubes to his eye. "So you hit me in the eye?" He glanced at a clock before sighing. "Why did you wake me up when we still have two hours until Gai said to get up?"

"Make breakfast. Then Kakashi wanted to see you. You can get your eye checked out then."

Kaoru just shook his head, throwing the ice in the sink and getting out a few eggs and bread, getting to work quickly. Before Sasuke even realized, a plate of food was being handed to him.

"When do you find out about your foot? At this rate, they are going to have to reset it… Trust me, that's never fun." Kaoru began to eat his food, sitting on the couch across from Sasuke and glancing at the foot propped up on the table in front of his face.

"Today. Kakashi told me they called him back about it. I find out when you go to him." The two ate in silence for a few minutes before something dawned on Sasuke. "How do you know about getting bones reset?"

"I broke my arm in three places and my leg in seven when I was younger. They had to reset both. It hurts. A lot." He didn't say anything more and Sasuke seemed to be in his own land thinking after that. _When did Hinata ever get hurt? Wouldn't it have been big news, since she is Hiashi's daughter? Or was it before he became a leader? But then, wouldn't I have known from school?_

"What happened? With you getting hurt, I mean…"

Kaoru choked on the piece of toast he had just bit into, coughing to clear his throat. It wasn't until after he had drunken an entire glass of water that he spoke. "I'd rather not talk about it." But it was too late, and the memories were coming back to him.

_She was running as fast as she could, but the car was just getting closer and she knew. But she didn't stop, not until it had hit her and continued off. It hadn't hurt as bad as she expected, but that might have been because she couldn't feel any part of her body, couldn't even scream. However long she laid there, a puddle of her own blood getting larger around her, she didn't know. If it hadn't been for that one school girl, she probably wouldn't have made it. But, maybe it would have been better if she hadn't. The following months for the four year old were excruciating, having to learn things over again and go through that pain of many surgeries because one person was angry at her father. That was when she first learned that not even her father could protect her from everything._

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Listen to me, you have to careful with your chest binding, okay?" Kaoru nodded to Kakashi, glancing to Sasuke standing just outside the office. "Just be careful." As Kaoru hopped off the chair he had been sitting on, Kakashi went to open the door for Sasuke. The older boy hobbled in but didn't sit down. "Kaoru, if you would."  
"It's fine. He's going to hear in a minute from me anyways. Stay." Sasuke stared down Kaoru before he could leave and the boy froze, looking to Kakashi, who only nodded. "Did they find anything else?"

"Sasuke," just the tone of Kakashi's voice was not good as they listened to him try to figure out how to word it, "they are going to have to do a surgery on your ankle. You severed a tendon and a few bones are out of place from it."

"Will I be able to jump again?" His voice was so desperate sounding, the questions asking what his entire future would be.

"It's… it's not likely. Almost impossible. It would take a miracle." Kakashi looked at Sasuke for his reaction, but the boy kept his face clear of any emotions.

"Someone once told me a miracle is just another name for hard work. I'll do it again. Come on Kaoru, we are going to be late." Sasuke turned to walk out of the room, leaving Kaoru to follow him.

"Come back here after the competition. You have to go get your foot looked at by the specialist this afternoon." The only indication that Sasuke heard was a slight nodding of his head as he walked right out the open door.

OoOoOoOoOoO

As the world flew by the window in blurs, Kaoru watched with his headphones on so that none of the noise of the bus could reach him. In the seat next to him, Sasuke sat with one earbud hanging out of his ear and looking in Kaoru's direction. _Hinata's really pretty. I never would have thought that in elementary school._ But the thoughts themselves seemed to scare Sasuke and he shook his head to get rid of them, only to go back to studying Kaoru's face. _And she is not annoying like other girls. She would probably wouldn't be a bad girlfriend._

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Sasuke would admit that he jumped at Kaoru's speaking, but he definitely did and Kaoru saw it.

"I wasn't… I was looking out the window." As the boy looked away from the window, a blush was rising on his cheeks.

"Sure you were."

"I was!" But he let the argument go, pulling out his phone to play a game on it, anything to keep him from looking at Kaoru again. The rest of the ride, the two sat in silence, but neither Sasuke nor Kaoru could say it was really awkward, even with the events leading up to it.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"You're telling me this kid is going to jump against us?" Kaoru looked at the locker room floor and away from the other three competitors in front of him, trying to ignore them as they spoke like he wasn't there.

"Apparently Uchiha's been training him." Laughter followed the statement.

"Ignore them. They can't jump above 2.25." A hand on Kaoru's shoulder caused him to jump, looking for who it was. It was a surprise to find Sai standing there. "Come on." He pushed Kaoru forward and out of the locker room, stalking away without saying anything else after doing so.

Sasuke had been waiting for Kaoru and hobbled towards the boy as fast as he could when he finally came out of the locker room. "What took you so long?"

"Nothing. When does the competition start?"

"Five minutes. We should get over there." Without waiting for a reply, he started to lead the way across the large track field and through the many events set up. By the time they reached where Kaoru was competing, the bar was just being put on and the boards set. Sai was already sitting on the bench with Gai standing beside him, and Kaoru sat next to the older student while Sasuke sat down carefully next to him and rested his crutches next to him. As the time ticked away and other events ended, the other jumpers came over and attention slowly shifted to the set up.

"Only competitors can sit here, Uchiha. Get up." His crutches were kicked from beside him, yet Sasuke managed to catch them before they fell to the ground. He didn't say anything but stood, making his way quickly around the little bench to stand behind Kaoru then. The trio chuckled at him, but Sasuke only ignored them. "You've taken to training a little kid?"

"Don't underestimate Kaoru or me." That was all he said, leaning on his crutches more and kneeing Kaoru in his back to get his attention. "Win this."

"I will." And then an announcer was there, speaking into a microphone to get the crowd's attention and starting the competition. Sai went up first and Kaoru watched as he cleared the bar easily.

Then it was his turn and cameras from different reporters all stilled, not finding the new face interesting compared to the people they had been following for years. Kaoru could only smirk as he took off and cleared the bar easily. The other three did the same and the bar was raised for the next round.

It continued with all of them clearing it until that bar reached 2.22 meters and the first of the three couldn't clear it. At 2.23, another gave up. With Kaoru in the top three, he gained attention, but still not enough for the reporters to watch him closely. Yet.

The final of the three missed the jump on 2.25, leaving just Sai and Kaoru. As the bar got higher, the first few pictures of Kaoru were taken, but still not nearly as many as the other four. Even Sasuke had more pictures than him. At 2.30, Sai clipped the bar and it fell.

"You can do it." Sasuke pushed Kaoru off the bench for his turn and the boy walked to his starting mark, pictures suddenly being taken at a much faster speed. The other contestants and much of the crowd watched Kaoru closely as he took off, his form perfect, and jumped.

Flying through the air, Kaoru closed his eyes, afraid of the outcome of his jump. It wasn't until after he hit the mat and rolled over that he opened his eyes, but the flashes of the cameras were too bright to see at first. As his eyes adjusted, he understood why pictures of him were suddenly so wanted. The bar was still standing. In his first competition, he had beaten the competitors who had been older than him and more known.

Sasuke's face was the first one he actually saw after the camera flashes had died down slightly, standing at the edge of the mat with a rare smile on his face. "I told you that you could do it." And he had. "Come on, off the mat." He acted like he was going to help so Kaoru went to grab his hand to climb off the mat, only for it to be dropped and him to stumble. Sasuke only chuckled before hobbling back over to Gai and the others and having Kaoru follow him.

Already, reporters were trying to get closer, Kaoru suddenly more interesting than the other jumpers. Sasuke nudged him as they walked, leaning closer to whisper in Kaoru's ear. "Smile and let me do all the talking unless they ask you specifically. And stand straight. Drink some water too." Kaoru was more than willing to listen, straightening his back as he grabbed a water bottle and sipped at it.

"Sasuke! Is it true you are training him?"

"How do you feel about his placement in his first competition?"

"Are you giving up on jumping?" The questions were fired one after another, the flashes from cameras not stopping, and Kaoru was suddenly very thankful that Sasuke was handling everything.

The older boy only smiled at the reporters, years of practice taking over. "Yes, I am training Kaoru. I know I am proud of his placement in this first competition, but I wouldn't have expected anything less from him." He smiled at Kaoru, playing a nice senior student.

"Are you giving up on jumping?" The question that had been ignored was asked again, but Sasuke didn't visibly react to it.

"No. I wanted to be here to see my friend compete and after I am going to get my foot looked at by a specialist and find out what needs to be done so that I can get back to jumping as soon as possible. Until then, Kaoru will be taking my place in competitions. But I look forward to the day we compete against each other." More questions were asked, some about his injury and most about Kaoru, but Sasuke took care of all of them, until the first was directed at Kaoru.

"How do you feel about taking the place of our country champion in competitions?"

Kaoru almost choked on his water at the question, but still answered. "I-I'm honored. I mean, to take the place of Sasuke when there are other high jumpers in our school who have practiced much longer than I have."

"Then why are you taking Sasuke's place and not one of them?"

Sasuke cut in now, saving Kaoru. "Because in the first time I was training Kaoru, he could jump my record. By the second time, he was beating it." That fact caused the cameras to click faster and pens scratched against pads, writing down what was definitely going to be a headline the next day, if not by later that day.

Before anymore questions could be asked, the next event was starting, and the reporters were running off to the area for the start. Kaoru sighed and relaxed his back, slumping over slightly, while Sasuke only leaned on his crutches a little more. "I'm going with Kakashi to the hospital right after we get back."

"I know." Kaoru couldn't figure out just why Sasuke was telling him what he already knew, but he had a feeling there was a reason behind it.

"Wi-will you come too?" The question surprised Kaoru, but Sasuke continued on quickly. "I mean, it will be hard for me to understand everything they are saying and Kakashi probably won't really care about how I feel about everything and will just look at it from the best way to get me back to jumping and-"

"I'll come if you want me to." Kaoru cut off Sasuke's ramblings, realize that despite looking almost indifferent on the outside, he was afraid of the whole thing. "We should go watch the race. Neji and Gaara are in it." That ended the conversation quickly, letting Sasuke calm down his fears of the whole thing, and the duo made their way to the rest of the KAA team to watch the race.

On the way, however, the three jumpers that had been tormenting Kaoru in the locker room got in the way again. "Are you doping or something? You expect us to believe a kid like you could beat jumpers who have been practicing for years?"

Sasuke focused his stare on them. "Says the person who has just been allowed to come back to jumping after using steroids freshman year. And I still beat you then. Kaoru, ignore them." Sasuke went to walk around them, but one of the boys stuck his foot out, catching it on Sasuke's crutches and tripping the boy. Sasuke fell, hitting his injured foot on the ground and screaming out in pain. Around them, people stopped to turn and look at the boys who were now horror-stricken and Sasuke on the ground holding his leg close, Kaoru already next to him trying to help.

Officials and coaches ran forward, Gai one of the first. A circle around them built, pushing the three boys that caused all of this back, only for them to be grabbed by another official and led off while Sasuke was taken care of. Kaoru was the first helping him stand, supporting him as he balanced himself once again on the crutches, still in excruciating pain. Gai was already calling Kakashi to come and get Sasuke to the hospital while the others tried to sort out what happened and what to do.

"Kaoru, you and Sasuke are going to go with Kakashi to the hospital. He'll be here within a half hour. Just get yours and Sasuke's things and meet him out front." Kaoru nodded to Gai before turning to Sasuke, who only nodded, and ran off to get their bags from the locker room. When he came back, Sasuke was sitting on a chair someone from their team had brought over and waiting for Kaoru. He hadn't even gotten close and Sasuke was starting to stand.

"We're waiting in front of the school. I can't stand these reporters taking pictures of me and trying to talk to me any longer." He walked right past Kaoru and the younger could do nothing but follow after him, slinging their bags over his shoulder and holding the pair of sneakers he was going to put on in his hand, walking after Sasuke in just his socks.

When they finally reached the front of the school, Sasuke sat down on a bench and carefully pulled his leg up next to him. Kaoru only glanced at the space he now couldn't sit in before sitting down on the ground next to Sasuke to put his shoes on. "You did well. You should stay and get your medal."

"What's a hunk of metal to me when a friend is hurt? It's not like not getting it is going to kill me." Kaoru leaned back on the concrete, looking up at the sky as he talked and relaxing in the warm sun.

"It was your first competition. You should at least get something from it."

"I won. That's something. And I'll always be able to get another medal." Sasuke went silent after that, leaning back on the bench to look at the sky that was entertaining Kaoru so much. "That cloud looks like a rabbit."

"And that one looks like a turtle." Sasuke pointed out the one in front of the bunny cloud, a slight smile on his face. "It looks like it is beating the rabbit in a race."

Kaoru started laughing at the statement, and Sasuke eventually joined in. After calming down, the two continued to stare at the clouds until Kakashi eventually pulled up in a school van, startling the two. "You don't even do anything in the competition and you manage to get hurt."

"Blame whoever tripped me." Sasuke sat down in the van he was coming to know too well, Kaoru helping from beside him. The smaller boy crammed himself into the back to give Sasuke as much room as possible to put his injured leg up for what was going to be a long ride.

"Kaoru, get the icepacks from my bag and put them on his foot." Kaoru immediately did so while Kakashi pulled the van out of the parking lot, pushing the speed limit and going over to shorten the ride slightly. "Are you going to press charges against them?"

"Definitely. I'm not taking their crap." Sasuke tried to seem tough, but Kaoru could tell the part he hadn't said was weighing heavier on his mind. _They could have just cost him jumping ever again._

"I already talked to the doctor. They are going to get you in as soon as we get there and take you for another x-ray. It's going to be decided from there what is going to happen next, but it is possible you might need surgery." Sasuke paled at the last part, only to jump when Kaoru put the finally cold icepacks on his ankle, hissing from the contact.

"Sorry." But he still didn't let Sasuke kick them off, holding them onto the older boy's ankle while perching himself over the seats.

"I'm not even going to bother telling you to buckle up." Kakashi glanced at Kaoru in the mirror, but the boy didn't listen to the warning hidden in his voice, causing the older man to sigh but ignore it.

They rode in silence for a while before Sasuke turned on the radio in the back, putting on at least some noise in the background. When a story about what had happened at the competition came on, he sighed and pushed it off once again. Kaoru was already there, holding out his iPod that Sasuke took without saying anything, stuffing earbuds into his ears and turning the volume up as high as it would go. With him lost in his thoughts and the music, Kakashi's eyes flickered to Kaoru. "I heard you won." Kaoru nodded but didn't say anything. "Congratulations."

"If I hadn't won, the kids from the other school wouldn't have been angry enough to do this."

"If you hadn't won, Sasuke would have looked like an idiot training you. There are always different ways to look at things. And it's not all your fault that some people are immature in doing things." The van turned suddenly, pulling onto a highway and going even faster.

"But it is partially my fault that this happened. If he can't jump again, it's my fault as much as it is the ones that tripped him." Kaoru glanced out the window and the van fell into silence. By the time they pulled into the hospital, the conversation Kaoru and Kakashi had was history, but it was still floating through Kaoru's mind, even as he sat in the waiting room by himself after being kicked out of Sasuke's room while tests were being done. _It is my fault. All my fault._


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N So quick story about the little boy that's going to appear in this chapter. His brother shoves a Lego up his nose and has to get it taken out… I was in the hospital a few months ago for a few hours when the doctors thought I had appendicitis, and in four-ish hours, there was a boy who had a Lego stuck in his nose, a kid who got Super Glue in his ear, another who got clay stuck in his ear, and some little girl who swallowed her doll's shoe. Not kidding. All right outside my room, all crying at some point. So, things like that can and do happen. Just thought I'd entertain you all for a minute.**

**Chapter 9**

Kaoru couldn't remember when, but at some point he had been moved to the children's waiting room, sitting in a too small yellow plastic chair and watching some animated show that was on for the younger kids that were not there any longer. But he didn't bother getting up to change it, instead staring at the screen without registering anything, still thinking about things. His track uniform was cold in the hospital, the spandex and shorts not protecting his legs from anything while the t-shirt under the tank top still hadn't dried completely from his sweat. He probably stank something wretched, but nobody was around to notice or care, and he sure didn't at the moment.

"Are you waiting for your brother too? Mine shoved a Lego up his nose." A little boy sat himself down on a chair next to Kaoru, looking at the boy closely. "Are you listening to me?"

"Huh?" Kaoru blinked out of his own mind and looked at the little kid. "Who are you?"

"Kanta. I asked if you were waiting for your brother too. Mine got a Lego stuck in his nose." He pressed one nostril on his own nose shut for effect, a smile on his face. "Are you?"

"My friend."

"I bet he'll be okay!" He flashed Kaoru a double thumbs up with a huge smile to match. "What happened to him?"

"He broke his foot then some kids hurt it more." Kaoru started to get depressed thinking about it, but Kanta wouldn't let that happen anytime soon.

"He'll get better soon! But are you a track runner? With your uniform and all?" Kaoru nodded. "Cool! What do you do?"

"I run. And I jump a bar." He tried to explain it as simply as possible, but it seemed like Kanta didn't need it after all.

"You're a high jumper? Have you competed against Uchiha Sasuke? That would be so cool! I want to compete against him when I'm older!" He had a huge smile on his face as he talked about the whole topic and Kaoru couldn't help but laugh a little at the boy.

"I've done better than compete against him. He trains me." Kaoru finally had that chance to tell that to someone and he felt so proud now that he had won his first competition on top of it.

"You're Kaoru?! I saw you jumping on the TV! Can I have your autograph for when you become famous?" He literally bounced out of his seat and returned a few seconds later with a sheet of paper and a marker from one of the craft tables in the room.

"Um…" Kaoru took it from the boy and hesitantly signed it, not quite understanding why or how this kid knew about him already. "Here?"

"Awesome! I'm going to be the first person with Kaoru's signature when he gets older!" Kaoru chuckled at the antics of the boy before glancing up to see Kakashi in the doorway.

"I have to go now, Kanta."

"Wait!" Kaoru halted in standing up to look at the boy. "Promise me you and Sasuke will compete against me one day."

"I promise." And with that, Kaoru left the boy, who was still admiring the signature done in purple marker. "What's new with him?"

Kakashi looked at the floor as he led the way to Sasuke's room. "They said he needs surgery. He refused to even listen until you came too." Kaoru only nodded, focusing more on looking at Sasuke through the door at the end of the hall they were on, sitting up in the bed already in a hospital gown, his foot propped up on pillows and unwrapped, an ugly black in color.

"If you want to walk properly again, you should do the surgery." Kaoru sat down on a chair in the room as he spoke, Sasuke looking at him intently but not speaking. "Kakashi filled me in on the details and all. You might not like it, but even just for walking, you kind of need your feet."

Sasuke stared him in the eyes and Kaoru could see the fear hidden deep in them. "You'll be fine. You won't be able to feel them doing anything and when you wake up you'll be so high on medicine you won't be able to know anything that's going on."

Sasuke sighed and Kaoru knew he had beaten the boy. He turned to Kakashi and nodded slightly. "I'll do it."

OoOoOoOoOoO

Kakashi and Kaoru had been waiting in yet another waiting room for hours while Sasuke's surgery occurred. Or, Kakashi waited and Kaoru fell asleep leaning on the wall. The teacher had draped a coat over him at some point so his didn't freeze in the thin track uniform.

By the time the boy finally opened his eyes again, hours had past. "Is his surgery over yet?" He yawned, but the question was more important to him than more sleep.

"Not yet. They have to completely rebuild his ankle and support it with metal screws and other things. It could be a while." Kaoru nodded and tried to focus on the television across the room. However, a doctor was blocking the view in a minute. He asked for Kakashi to talk to him privately and Kaoru could only guess what happened, hoping he wasn't wrong in telling Sasuke he would be alright.

"What happened to him?" Kakashi had barely even gotten back in the room before Kaoru was firing questions at him. "Is Sasuke okay?"

"There was an injury to his tendon they weren't expecting. It's going to be even harder for him to get back on his feet now." Kakashi could see how much the news was hurting Kaoru, but he won't let it show clear on his face.

"But he will be okay?"

"Kaoru… He won't be able to jump again." And Kaoru's world crumbled.

OoOoOoOoOoO

When Sasuke finally came to enough to understand what was going on around him, the first thing he could hear was the sound of deep breathing beside him, like someone was asleep. He cracked an eye open to see Kaoru sleeping while leaning on his bed slightly, the younger boy's hands clasped around one of his own. Tracks from long-past tears were visible on his cheeks, but Sasuke had no idea what caused them. "Kaoru," his voice was rough from being unconscious so long, but the whisper woke the boy with a start.

"Sasuke! You're up! Do you want some water?" His voice wasn't that loud but it still seemed pounding to his ears and Kaoru caught his wince. Lowering his voice to a whisper, he spoke again. "Sorry. Do you want some water?" Sasuke nodded and a straw was placed between his dry lips in seconds. He gulped the whole cup down greedily. "How are you feeling?"

"I've seen better days. What time is it?" He finally realized it was pitch black outside his window and Kaoru seemed to jump at the realization as well.

"Oh, um…" He glanced at a phone on the table beside Sasuke's bed before answering. "Around 10." That time seemed to shock him slightly, and Sasuke couldn't help the little smile at the reaction.

"Thanks. Any idea how the surgery went?" Kaoru's face fell immediately, and Sasuke froze up as well. "Did something happen? Do I still have my foot?"

"You have your foot." That allowed him to let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding, but he knew that wasn't the end of it. "There… There was an injury to your tendon that they hadn't known was there. It was fixed in the surgery but… Sasuke, you won't be able to jump again. Or, it will take a miracle to."

Kaoru had expected Sasuke to look more crestfallen at hearing there was a possibility he would never jump again and he definitely wasn't expecting what came out of Sasuke's mouth. "A miracle is just another name for hard work, right?"

"What?"

"It was you who told me a miracle was just another name for hard work. I've watched time and time again as you proved that to me. Now it's time I prove it to you. I'll compete against you by the time we graduate high school." Sasuke's eyes were completely sincere as he stared at Kaoru's own eyes. "But until then, make me proud in competitions. Beat my record. Make it seem impossible for me to come back."

All Kaoru could do was nod, tears spilling over his eyes once again. And before Sasuke could stop himself, he was leaning closer slightly to wipe the tears from Kaoru's face before they could fall far. "Don't cry. Be happy. I'll be back on my feet before you know it."

OoOoOoOoOoO

Kaoru returned to the school the next day, his dorm feeling empty while Sasuke was still in the hospital. Word had spread around the campus of all the events of the competition and Kaoru was now as big a celebrity to the students as Sasuke, but it didn't matter to him at all.

He went through the first few days of classes in a blur, not paying attention and having to re-read chapters later that night just to do the homework. Meals were skipped and he lost pounds in just a few days. Naruto and the rest of Sasuke's friends notice, but nobody did anything at first. Kaoru sat by himself when he did go to the cafeteria, and normally pushed the food around on his plate before leaving, having eaten nothing.

A week passed without Sasuke coming back. At some point, a pipe burst in a different dorm and Kaoru heard there were going to be people rooming in all of the rooms in his dorm, but he made no effort to clean the place up or even care. "Kaoru! I'm your roommate!"

He glanced down at Naruto on the main floor from his bed, not bothering to get up. "Aren't from this dorm?"

"Nope, but all my friends are so I hang out in the Dorm 1 rooms more than my dorm's." He threw a bag down on the ground before glancing at Sasuke's bad and sitting on it. "When is he coming back?"

"Might be a month." Kaoru tried to focus on the book in front of him, but the thought of Sasuke made his mind begin to wander and he no longer could.

"Why so long?"

"You wouldn't come back in a few days if you had your tendon stitched back together and your ankle speared with metal screws to keep it in place." The words were sharp and Naruto realized he hit a sore spot talking about Sasuke.

"Do you want to go get dinner?" He tried to change the topic, but the mood still hung in the air.

"Not hungry." But Kaoru's stomach growled then and Naruto could hear it from Sasuke's bed on the floor below.

"Yes, you are. Come on." Kaoru still didn't appear, and Naruto sighed before climbing the steps and lifting Kaoru, throwing him over his shoulder and walking back down the steps, taking Kaoru with him against his will. No matter how much the smaller boy struggled, he couldn't get out of Naruto's grip.

The blonde carried him all the way to the cafeteria over his shoulder, ignoring any weird looks, and threw Kaoru down in a chair when they got there. "Stay, or I'll find you and drag you back." Kaoru didn't particularly want to be dragged back by Naruto, so he stayed in the chair while the older boy bought both their dinners and sat down at the table with them. "You are going to eat at least half of that, or I'm shoving it down your throat."

Kaoru only nodded, picking up a piece of chicken between his chopsticks and nibbling on it. It took a while, but he did eventually eat half the tray of food before pushing it away. "If I eat any more, I'll explode."

But all Naruto could think of was the fact he was finally paying Sasuke back for all the Uchiha had done for him, even if it was indirectly.

OoOoOoOoOoO

As Naruto set up a bed on the couch, Kaoru walked around the dorm cleaning up a little bit and straightening the room. While he did so, Naruto found himself glancing at Kaoru every now and then, watching the boy. _Kaoru is cute like that._ The sudden thought had him jumping, and he couldn't believe he thought it, turning his focus to making the bed to get it out of his head. But as they went to sleep that night, it came back and his dreams were filled of the boy only across the dorm from him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Kaoru closed the door to the hospital room behind him, navigating the room easily even though all the lights were off and it was pretty dark. That just came from the amount of times he had been there. As he placed the small box he was carrying on the little table by the bed and grabbed the vase of flowers that was there to water them from the tap before placing them back on the table. Finally he glanced at the bed, where Sasuke was already passed out.

He only smiled slightly and did a few more chores around the room before wishing good night to the boy on the bed and walking out. The box still sat on the table, untouched and in the reach of Sasuke.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Don't you have a competition coming up with weekend?" Kaoru nodded to Naruto, not looking up from the toast he was eating for breakfast. "You're jumping, right? Is Sasuke going?"

"I am and he isn't. I didn't even tell him about it since he should be focusing on getting better first so he can come back sooner." He took one last bite before throwing the half he didn't eat back down on his plate and pushing it towards Naruto. The blonde picked it up and ate the whole thing in two bites.

"You should at least tell him about it so he can watch it on the TV. It must be pretty boring all day at the hospital." Kaoru only shrugged before taking his empty tray and walking towards the drop-off for it. "Hey! Wait for me!" And Naruto was jumping after him, running with his own tray to catch up with Kaoru. The younger boy only continued to walk, not reacting to him at all and definitely not stopping.

By the time they got to the classroom, Naruto was talking to nothing. _Sasuke's rubbing off on him. I have to fix that._

OoOoOoOoOoO

"I brought your schoolwork." Kaoru sat down in the chair next to Sasuke's bed and threw his bag down at his feet, bending over to unzip it. He pulled out a large stack of books and papers and placed them on the edge of Sasuke's bed. "I was asked to help you if you need it."

Sasuke opened the folder on top to see the list of assignments he had to complete. Barely holding back the groan at it, he looked at the first math piece. It would probably be the easiest. "Do you have my notebooks?" Kaoru searched in his bag for a minute before pulling them out. "Thanks. You can do your homework or something, if you want."

"Yeah. I have a project due this week and I've done nothing on it yet. Ask me if you need any help." A laptop was pulled from what Sasuke figured was a never-ending bag and Kaoru opened it on his lap, typing away in seconds. Soon, the only sounds were Sasuke's pencil on the paper and the clicking of the keys of Kaoru's keyboard.

An hour and many math assignments later, Sasuke leaned back in the bed, his hand cramping up from the pages of writing he was doing. Kaoru looked up while still typing. "Do you need help?"

"I'm taking a break. My hand is killing me." It was silent for a few seconds and even Sasuke could feel the awkwardness. He had to break it. "Can you put on music or something?"

"What do you want?"

"Anything. It's just too quiet. Put on your playlist or something." Kaoru stopped typing and clicked a few things before music started to filter into the room. The volume was turned up a little, and Sasuke couldn't hide his surprise completely. _Hinata listens to __punk__ music? I would have thought it would have been classical, or maybe a little pop, but __punk__?_

"I can turn it off if this bothers you." Kaoru's hand hovered over the mouse pad, but Sasuke shook his head.

"I like this. I just didn't expect you to." He picked the pencil back up, but didn't go back to writing yet, instead watching Kaoru as he typed away on the computer, almost completely focused on it.

"Why? Am I not allowed to like good music or something?"

"No… I just would have expected you to listen to classical music or maybe some pop, but nothing like FAKE?. Maybe A-Peace." Sasuke started to write again, but kept glancing at Kaoru to see a reaction. All he got was a shrug.

"They are pretty good too. I just have different playlists for different things and this is my homework playlist." After a few minutes of typing and writing in silence, Kaoru stopped out of nowhere and looked up at Sasuke. "How do you know who A-Peace is? They aren't all that famous around here." Sasuke was silent, not giving any reaction, and Kaoru smirked a little. "You listen to them, don't you?"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. You don't need to know." But Kaoru did know. The boy only nodded and went back to typing, but they were now discussing bands as they worked, finding a common interest neither would have expected the other to have.

"Do you know Super Junior? They're from Korea."

"Yeah. I haven't really listened to them, and if I have, it's because they were on the radio or something, but they aren't bad. I've just never really listened to music I can't understand." He shrugged, before glaring at the one problem he was stuck on. "What do I have to do on this?" He pushed the paper towards Kaoru for the younger boy to see what problem he was on.

Kaoru looked at it with a glance, before launching into a step-by-step explanation without looking up from his writing again. Sasuke did all the calculations with the actual numbers while Kaoru only gave an overview, but in the end, he surprised Sasuke once again. "You should have gotten one hundred twenty-eight point five three seven. Correct?"

"Yeah… Were you doing that on the computer or something?" Kaoru shook his head. "How'd you figure it out?"

"I'm good with mental math. You can give me a list of ten numbers just flashing by and tell me to add them and I can from memory. So remember when you asked me if I needed help on my math work when I was new at school? Seems pretty useless now, right? I thought so then." Kaoru shrugged but flashed Sasuke a smile. "I still thought it was pretty cool of you to ask me if I needed help. I thought my roommate would have been extremely rude with my luck."

"No problem…" Sasuke was focusing on another problem, before sighing and closing the math book. "I can't concentrate on math any more. Can we take a rest for the day?"

"Sure." Kaoru closed the window he was working in on the laptop. "You've been working on that for over an hour already. I'm almost finished with the project."

"Well aren't you lucky," Sasuke muttered, before glancing at a calendar on the wall by his bed. "Isn't there a meet this weekend? Are you jumping?"

"Yeah. I'm taking your place, remember?" Sasuke just nodded, not really listening.

"Do well in it." The way he said it made Kaoru figure Sasuke wouldn't go, which was all for the better, so he nodded.

"I will."

OoOoOoOoOoO

But imagine Kaoru's surprise when he cleared the bar for the last time to take first place, and found himself looking right at Sasuke, sitting there in a wheelchair, by the rest of the team, clapping for him as everyone else was, but with a smile on his face. _I thought he wasn't coming._

"What are you doing here?" Kaoru sat down on the ground across from Sasuke, greedily drinking from a water bottle. He still had to run in a little bit.

"I can't miss my perfect trainee take first place again, can I?" Sasuke smirked at Kaoru. "You're doing better than anyone would have thought. Those guys couldn't seem to believe a kid like you could beat them."

"Well, they should. I did." Kaoru laid back on the fake turf grass, staring up at the clouds in the sky as he rested for his race that was coming up shortly. "I'm running in a while. Two races."

"I heard. You better win, or it will look bad on me."

"No promises. But I'll try." Kaoru went to drink some more water while still lying down, succeeding in pouring it over his face instead of drinking it. He didn't react, and Sasuke chuckled slightly before throwing a towel onto Kaoru's face. "What was that for?"

"You plan on sitting there soaking wet?" Kaoru didn't respond and just used the towel to dry off his face as he sat up. His hair was wet from the water, so he shook his head like a dog does to dry off. "What races are you running?"

"Hundred meter sprint and then two-mile." He glanced at a timetable sheet and then to his watch before sighing. "I still have over a half hour until my first race."

"I'll still be here. I got approval to stay in the dorm for the weekend."  
"You're not going to like that." Kaoru gave Sasuke a sheepish smile. "Naruto's dorm got roomed with ours after a pipe burst or something so Naruto's been in our dorm for a while. He isn't as clean as we are, and I've given up on straightening up the dorm when he messes it up again. It's hopeless until he leaves."

"Kick him out for the weekend. It won't hurt him to sleep on a couch for a night. I just want my own bed back." Sasuke squinted at Kaoru through the blinding sunlight, watching the boy as he laid back down on the fake grass to cloud watch. "And make him clean up his own mess. You shouldn't be doing it."

Kaoru only nodded, closing his eyes and enjoying the sun on his skin before he had to run again. Sasuke fell silent, looking over the boy he was sure fell asleep, and together, they sat like that until it was Kaoru's next race.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"I can't believe I came first in all the events I competed in. Why are the competitors so weak?" Kaoru placed his three newest medals on the shelves that had once been Sasuke's trophy case, but were now slowly being taken over by him.

"They aren't weak. You're just better than them. When I get back on my feet, I'm going to kick your ass." Sasuke wheeled around the corner of their room before stopping short to look at the mess across the floor. "Did he release a tornado in here? Where is Naruto? I'm going to kill him…"

"Soccer practice. He'll meet us at dinner. Kill him then and we can steal his food as well. I'm starving…" Kaoru opened the fridge to find something to eat before sighing and closing the door again. "He took the last of our food… I'm going to have to go shopping tomorrow."  
"Make him pay for it."

"It's fine." Kaoru only shrugged before throwing himself down on the couch. Sasuke navigated the room in his wheelchair as carefully as he could, kicking things away with his good foot to make the path clear.

It took a while before he finally reached his thankfully-clean bed, and in seconds, was climbing out of his wheelchair to sit on it, smiling slightly at the comfortableness compared to the hospital bed. "I'm still making him clean the room."

"That's fine." Kaoru glanced at the clock by Sasuke's bed before sighing again. "I'm going to shower and then we can head to dinner." Sasuke nodded as Kaoru stood up to retrieve his shower basket. A few seconds after the bathroom door closed, Sasuke could hear the water running and figured Kaoru was getting into the shower.

"You've been living in a dorm with just Naruto for weeks, Hinata? I would have never thought you would do something like that," he muttered, before looking around the room again. "He's such a pig." But he still stood up on his one good foot and hopped through the mess of a room to his dresser, pulling a sweatshirt out of it to put over the thin t-shirt he was wearing. It was always so cold in the cafeteria to him, so he knew he would need it.

Next he pulled out a few new shirts and shorts and threw them onto the bed, followed by a few pairs of socks and other clean clothes. After a small pile formed, he hopped back to the bed and stuffed the clothes into a random backpack he found by his bed to bring back to the hospital when it was time.

When Kaoru walked out of the bathroom after his shower, he was already dressed in new clothes and drying his hair with a towel with one hand while the other carried his basket. "Just give me a minute and we can leave." He nodded in Sasuke's general direction, confusing the older boy when the nod wasn't directed at him but a wall, and raced up his stairs, tripping a few times. Sasuke could hear the basket being put down and then Kaoru scrambling for something, cursing when he couldn't find it at first.

But a minute later, Kaoru came back down the stairs, a hat on his still-wet hair and glasses perched on his nose. Sasuke glanced at him curiously as they left the dorm, but didn't saying anything. Kaoru didn't explain either. It wasn't until they were already halfway to the cafeteria that Sasuke broke the silence. "What's with the glasses?"

Kaoru blushed a little and looked down at the floor while rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly; a habit Sasuke was noticing a lot more now that Naruto and Kaoru were hanging around each other more. "I dropped one of my contacts down the sink and I don't have any left. I get more in a few days, but until then, I need my glasses to see. I'm not used to them either."

Sasuke vaguely remembered Kaoru wearing the glasses when he had woken the new boy up in the early morning at the beginning of his time at the school. "They look good on you. Wear them more often." Kaoru's blush only got brighter.

When they reached the cafeteria, Kaoru held the door open for Sasuke. "Just go to our table and I'll get your dinner."

"I'll do it myself. I'm not having you do everything for me." And Sasuke wheeled his chair in front of Kaoru to be before the younger boy on line. Kaoru sighed but allowed it. Sasuke had no trouble getting his tray, but after that, things were too far for him to reach, and Kaoru had to continuously lean over to grab them and place things on Sasuke's tray. Thankful but still a little annoyed that he was proven wrong, Sasuke only rolled along. "Thanks."

"No problem." But there was one thing that was annoying Sasuke more than being proven wrong. Most everyone was staring right at him, without even trying to hide it. But for Kaoru's sake, he didn't do anything. Yet.

They made their way to the table they normally sit at, and Naruto was already there. "Yah! Why is my dorm a mess from you?"

Naruto whipped around to face the duo with a smile on his face at Sasuke's voice. Jumping up from the chair, he tried to race towards Sasuke, but the blackette held out his good foot to keep the boy away. As Kaoru tried to steady Naruto with his free hand, Sasuke got a glimpse of something sliding from Naruto's pocket into Kaoru's sleeve, and then into the younger boy's pocket once he stepped back from Naruto and relaxed. Sasuke could only smirk a little at the plan Kaoru must have brewed up at some point before this. "Don't touch me. Now why is my dorm a mess when I haven't been there in weeks and Kaoru is a clean freak?"

"Um… Why don't we sit down and eat our dinner? I'm starving." And Naruto was back in his chair, shoveling food into his mouth like no tomorrow. Kaoru took a seat and moved a chair for Sasuke to be able to sit at the table as well.

"I expect it cleaned by the time Kaoru and I get back." Naruto only nodded, shoving the last bite of food in his mouth before standing with the empty tray.

As he walked away, he reached into his pocket for his wallet, but felt nothing. "Where's my wallet?" He looked at the ground around the table before shrugging. "Maybe I left it in the dorm." And then he was off to save his skin from Sasuke's wrath.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

When Sasuke and Kaoru returned to their dorm, the two were honestly surprised to find it almost completely clean. Naruto was still running around the room, his hair pulled back from his face with a head band and cleaning with all his might. He looked u to smile at the two but continued what he was doing. Sasuke saw Kaoru fiddling with something in his pocket before Naruto's wallet was produced. "You left this at the cafeteria."

He tossed it across the room to Naruto, who caught the wallet with a surprised look. "Thank you!" And he was back to cleaning, shoving the money-holder into his pocket as he did so. Kaoru only shook his head before walking over to the stairs and going up. A few minutes later, he came down carrying a bag and some shoes.

Without saying anything, he walked out, leaving Sasuke in shock. "Where are you going?!"

"He trains every night. Don't expect him back for a while." Naruto picked up the last of the things before standing up with a smile. "I'm done. See you tomorrow." And he grabbed his own bag and a blanket and walked out of the room, leaving Sasuke alone.

"Where are you going?!"

"You said I had to sleep on the couch in the main dorm room. Bye." And Naruto was out of the dorm.

Sasuke only looked around the empty dorm before sighing. "Aren't you not supposed to leave the person who just left the hospital alone? What's this?" But he only shook his head before wheeling over to his bed and changing from the chair to there, finding it much more comfortable than the bed in the hospital. Grabbing a nearby book, he leaned back and started reading. _This is much more comfortable… But what is Kaoru doing?_

OoOoOoOoOoO

Kaoru was drenched in sweat but glaring at the stopwatch in his hand. "Why am I getting slower?!"

"Because you've been running around the track for the past two hours almost non-stop. Take a break. Relax. You're just tiring yourself out." Neji strolled down the steps to the track and field. "Drink some of this." He held a bottle of red liquid out to Kaoru, but the younger boy only stared at it. Neji chuckled. "It's just Gatorade. Drink it."

"Thanks." Knowing what it was now, Kaoru grabbed the bottle and opened it, drinking half the thing in one gulp. "How long have you been watching?"

"I passed by when you were first starting and came past again an hour ago. Since you were still running, I figured I'd give you an hour to leave before I came. You're still here. I'm guessing you haven't left in that time." Kaoru sat down on a bench after Neji did so, shaking his head. "You're not going to get anywhere by just running for hours straight."

"I take breaks…" But Kaoru sighed. "I'm just trying to build up my endurance."

"Then run carrying weights. With how you do things now, you're used to running for three or more hours. It won't do anything more. You have to change it up." Neji leaned back on the bench to look at the stars. "Or you can just do what you've been doing and not listen to the person you've already beaten so many times."

"But you've been getting faster," Kaoru whispered, almost to himself, as he thought. "How much weight should I start with?"

"Whatever is comfortable." Neji sat up quickly suddenly, startling Kaoru. "But I didn't come here planning on telling you about running…"

"Why'd you come here then? Did you want to train or something?" Kaoru saw Neji shaking his head and became more curious. "Then why?"

"Remember when you asked about my cousin?" Kaoru nodded to Neji, slightly confused that he was suddenly bring up Hinata. _Me._ "I thought I should tell you more about that."

"Oh, um…" The topic Neji was talking about surprised Kaoru, and he was even more surprised that Neji was coming to him to tell more about it without Kaoru saying anything more. "_Why_?"

"I thought you should probably know. I wasn't the nicest in telling you that it was none of your business, but you were really interested in finding out about her. It's been so long that," Neji didn't have to say more, Kaoru already knew what was coming, but the Hyuuga continued, "she most likely isn't coming back. I felt you should know more about her."

Kaoru didn't really know what to say to that, but it was fine, as Neji continued. "She actually sort of looked like you. Not saying you look like a girl or she looks like a guy, you two just look similar. And she was always caring about others, sort of like you, I guess. Hinata was never one to hurt a fly. But my uncle, her father, since he is a leader of Konoha, he was really strict with her. It wasn't his choice, but the choice of the others he worked with." Neji looked at the younger boy, who only nodded, not wanting to ruin the mood of Neji's tale by talking. "She was going to be married off, even though she was only your age. Hiashi didn't really want it, but he didn't have a choice. And neither did Hinata. She disappeared as everything was being finalized. I guess it is for the better that she is gone, since she doesn't have to go through the life she would have had to live if she had been married off. I have a feeling she is fine now, living her life how she would have wanted to." _How right you are, Neji. How right you are. _Neji chuckled slightly, shaking his head. "I can't believe I'm telling you all this. It probably doesn't matter to you, since you didn't even know Hinata. I just had to tell somebody, and you were a lot like her." Neji shook his head again before standing up from the bench. "I'm sorry for bothering you with all this. I probably made no sense."

As he started to walk off, Kaoru looked at the older boy. "Neji!" He stopped and turned to look over his shoulder at Kaoru. "Tomorrow, can you tell me more about her?"

Neji smiled a little. "Sure. I'll come a little earlier." Kaoru smiled as he waved to his senior as Neji left. _I look forward to that, brother._

OoOoOoOoOoO

"I'm going food shopping." Kaoru started to leave the dorm, pulling a hat on his head as he opened the door.

"Alone?"

"I'll be fine. You don't have to worry about me, Sasuke." Kaoru chuckled, but paused to look at Sasuke. "I promise."

"Last time you did something alone, I was being stuffed in a police car with you." Seeing Kaoru about to argue with him, he held his hands up in surrender. "Get tomatoes when you go."

"Have that written down. I'll be back before you have to leave." And he left, walking towards the main gate of the school to leave.

"Where are you going?" Kaoru froze mid-step and turned around to face whoever was talking to him.

"Why am I always being asked that? I'm going food shopping. Naruto ate everything in my dorm." He glanced at Neji, surprised to see the older boy in anything other than the school uniform or training clothes. "Where are you going?"

He shrugged. "I just felt like getting out. Want me to go with you?"

"If you want…" Neji nodded and caught up to where Kaoru was. The two started walking in silence for a while, before Kaoru finally broke it once again. "Why are you coming with me?"

Neji shrugged. "I have nothing better to do. I just wanted to leave the campus. And I guess now I can help you." Kaoru only nodded and they fell back into an awkward silence. _Why is Neji being like this?_

OoOoOoOoOoO

"I brought food." Kaoru closed the door to Sasuke's hospital room behind him with his foot as he entered.

"Give me." Sasuke reached out for the bag that Kaoru handed him, quickly pulling out the many trays and containers and placing them on the table over his bed.

"Sometimes I feel like you only like me coming here because I bring you food." Kaoru sat down in a chair and pulled out another small container, his own food. By the time he opened it and started to eat, Sasuke was already digging in.

"You're also good for entertainment."

"Thanks." Kaoru said it sarcastically, but smiled, knowing it was all in good humor. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Sasuke broke it with a random question.

"Remember when you were buying food after Naruto ate all that was in our dorm?" Sasuke glanced to Kaoru, who nodded. "Did he ever pay you back for that?"

"Sort of… Remember when I caught him after you kicked him in the cafeteria? I took his wallet. When I gave it back in our dorm, I'd taken some money to pay back for it." Kaoru gave a little smile as he spoke of the time, still not quite believing he got away with it. "But he never noticed."

"Doesn't surprise me. He always carries a lot of money around. You could take hundreds from him and he wouldn't know."

"Kind of like you?" Kaoru gave Sasuke a teasing smile. "You were going to pay my bail with cash from your own account. Why do you guys have so much money?"

"You still haven't figured out the secret of KAA?" Kaoru shook his head and Sasuke chuckled a little. "Everyone is either rich or a prodigy in a sport, or both. You're the only kid that doesn't have money, no offense but you know it is true, and most of us are signed so we get even more." Sasuke shrugged at Kaoru, who didn't seem to take any offense to the comment on his money status. "It shouldn't be long until you get signed with how good you are. Then you'll be swimming in cash like Naruto."

"He's been signed to a company?"

"Promotions. He's sort of a sport model, I guess. But he's good too." Sasuke looked down at the empty trays of food in front of him. "Thanks for the food."

"Sure…" Kaoru took one last bite from his own before holding it out to Sasuke, who he knew was just waiting for it. The Uchiha wasted no time in taking the container and devouring Kaoru's food as well. "So, have you done any of the work?"

"Yeah. I'm almost finished with it all." Sasuke pointed to the piles of work from school with his chopsticks for Kaoru to get it. "I just have English left."

"You need help on it, don't you?" Sasuke went to refuse Kaoru, but the younger boy turned his notebook around to show random drawings that Sasuke had made while trying to figure out the lesson and not understanding it. "Do you know the alphabet at least?"

Sasuke's silence answered him and Kaoru could only sigh. "How did you get this far in English without knowing the alphabet?"

"It's my first year taking it. We only have to take two years of a foreign language and I'm taking it this year and next." Sasuke tried to defend himself, but it didn't do much. "You should know by now most of our classes are just on paper so that we can pass high school and be athletes."

"You should at least know basics. I've known English since elementary school. We even had classes on it."

"…I took Chinese…"

"You're helpless." But Kaoru still flipped to a new page in the notebook and wrote the whole alphabet, making each letter three lines tall. "_This_," he pointed to the first letter, "is 'a.'" He said it without any accent at all. "Say it."

"'A.'" Sasuke, on the other hand, was barely understandable with his accent. "Was that right?"

"We'll work on it…"


	12. Chapter 12

**I realized as I was writing this chapter that I don't think I put what grade Sasuke and all of them are in, so Sasuke, Kaoru/Hinata, etc. are all in their second year of high school. Neji and Lee are in third year, and Kankuro (and anyone older than the Sasuke crew and not specified what grade they are in) is in the last year. Just clearing that up.**

**Chapter 12**

"Quick, Sasuke. Say the alphabet." Kaoru didn't even look up from the work he was doing to command Sasuke, since the other boy was only watching television.

"A, b, c, d, e, g-no f, g, h, um… j?" He sighed, knowing he was wrong.

Kaoru only laughed a little, shaking his head. "I then j. What comes after?"

"K! Then… l?" Sasuke looked to Kaoru for correction, but the tutor was nodding. "M, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, v, u, w… What did I get wrong this time?"

Kaoru shook his head at Sasuke, his smile growing a little more. "It's u and then v. And you have a really bad accent. It doesn't even sound like English when you speak."

"This is why I took Chinese."

"Nǐ hǎo. Nǐ zěnme yang?" Kaoru smirked at Sasuke's dumbfounded face. "How long ago was it that you took Chinese?"

"Until second year of middle school. How do _you_ know Chinese?" It seemed to be the biggest shock of Sasuke's life that Kaoru spoke Chinese as well.

"I teach myself a lot of things. I also know Korean. But did you even understand what I was saying?"

"Yes. You asked how I was. If I said I knew something, I actually know it. But do you have an accent in any languages?" Kaoru laughed a little as he shook his head.

"I'd gone to a lot of different countries as I kid. I've never had an accent in any language. Not even Japanese. But not having one makes me sound like I have a strange country one…" Kaoru shrugged. "I'm guessing your accent is just as bad in Chinese."

"Maybe…" Sasuke's reply answered Kaoru. "Let's just get back to working on English. A, b, c, d, e, _f_, g, h, _i, _j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, _u_, v, w, x, y, z. Right?"

"You got it." Kaoru gave a thumbs-up to Sasuke. "Now write it."

"You've got to be kidding me." But Sasuke still grabbed the pencil from Kaoru and opened his notebook to begin.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"I heard the pins are coming out this week." Kaoru handed Sasuke a plastic bag with food as usual as he spoke, pulling his own meal from his bag as he sat down in that chair that was slowly becoming his.

"Two days until the surgery to take them out. They want me doing rehab as soon as I can." Both boys were silent for a few minutes as they ate the food. When Sasuke was close to finished with his, he finally spoke again. "You have a competition that day, don't you?"

"I'll be here right after. I'll even run from the school." Kaoru gave a smile to Sasuke as he reassured his friend that he would be there for the surgery, knowing how much Sasuke feared it. "I promise to be here by the time you wake up."

"You better be…" Sasuke muttered. "And bring some food with you."

Kaoru let out a laugh. Of course food would be one of the first things on Sasuke's mind. "What do you want? I'll buy anything."

"I want you to make me an all-American meal. You'd said you'd been there before."

"You want food from the land of fat?" Sasuke nodded to Kaoru, not quite getting the joke. "Not my problem if you get too fat to jump over the bar when you come back."

"I'll be fine." He kicked the edge of Kaoru's chair with his good foot to humor the kid. "You should be worried with practicing so I don't kick your ass my first jump back."

"I'd like to see you try." Kaoru pointed at Sasuke with his chopsticks, eyes narrowed. "I'm going to break your record this time."

"Sure, do it while I'm knocked out. Talk about a low hit." But Sasuke smiled at Kaoru a little. "Good luck."

Out in the hall, Naruto stood frozen, the bag he had been carrying dangling off of limp fingers. "Sasuke's never been like that to anyone before… And Kaoru's never been like that either…" Not believing what he was seeing, Naruto slowly sat down against the wall in the hospital hall. _And why am I jealous that Kaoru was acting like that with Sasuke?_

OoOoOoOoOoO

"It's unbelievable! Kaoru just broke Uchiha Sasuke's record! He just jumped 2.33 meters; .02 meters higher than the previous record!" Kaoru hadn't even gotten off the mat by the time members of the track team were there, tackling him and congratulating him on the jump. By the time he got back to where the rest of the team was, reporters were lining up, questions being shouted at him. _I wish you were here to deal with this, Sasuke. What do I do?!_

But he remembered some of what Sasuke had told him the first time reporters had flocked to him, straightening his back and sipping from his bottle as he gave short answers to questions. And just as he felt about to explode from the pressure, there was a hand on Kaoru's shoulders. He glanced up in surprise to see Neji next to him, giving a small smile for the cameras. "Your race is coming up soon. Come on." He was pulled away from the reporters, who couldn't follow the duo as they sat in the middle of the whole team.

"Thank you. I thought I was going to die." Kaoru let out a sigh of relief as they sat down, finally putting away his water bottle.

"We could tell." Kaoru just realized that most of the team was looking at him when one of the upperclassmen spoke. "Nice jump."

"You're probably going to get signed after that, so you should get better at answering reporters." A boy wearing a black hoodie over his uniform for some unknown reason sat across from Kaoru. "Kankuro. Two grades above you." He answered Kaoru's unasked questions before looking around. "You're the first person I've met who can beat my brother at running."

"Brother?" Kaoru couldn't think of anyone who looked anything like Kankuro, drawing up a blank at anyone who might be his brother.

"Gaara."

"Gaara and you are _brothers_?" Kaoru's eyes were practically wide as saucers at the news.

"Shocking to a lot of people. But, yeah, we are." Kankuro stopped talking as one of the officials made an announcement. "This is your race. Kick my brother's ass for me, won't ya?" He gave Kaoru a little push to get him up faster, and said the last part with a smile as Kaoru jogged to the lineup.

_I always do, don't I?_

OoOoOoOoOoO

"You've got to be kidding me!" Kaoru gave up on trying to catch up with the bus as he drove off, leaning against a road sign as he wallowed in self-pity. "When I said I'd run to the hospital for him, I didn't really mean it!"

"Kaoru?" The boy practically jumped when he heard someone speaking from behind him and whipped around to be face-to-face with Shino. "Was that your bus?"

"Yeah… I can't really talk though, I have to run to get to the hospital on time now." Kaoru went to take off running, but Shino grabbed his arm.

"Know how to drive a motorcycle?"

"_Yeah_…" Kaoru's voice was laced with suspicion that didn't let up until Shino dropped keys from his pocket into the hand he was holding. "What's this?"

"_That_," Shino pointed to a motorcycle across the street, "is my motorcycle. Those are the keys. Just don't damage it." Having finished what he wanted to say, Shino let go of Kaoru's arm and turned to leave.

"What about you?"

"I can walk back. Go for Sasuke." He raised his hand in a slight wave over his shoulder, not looking back.

"Thank you!" Kaoru's frown turned into a smile as he darted across the street and jumped onto the bike, placing the helmet over his head and turning the key. "This is going to be fun." He revved the engine one before getting situated and driving off onto the road, much faster than he should have been going.

"I hope he doesn't kill himself." But Shino didn't do anything to stop Kaoru. "Or break my bike."

OoOoOoOoOoO

Kaoru was relieved that Sasuke hadn't woken up yet by the time he got to the hospital. As quietly as he could, the boy started unloading the backpack he had been carrying the whole time, pulling out many containers of different foods for Sasuke. The older boy was still motionless in the bed, but from what the doctor had said before Kaoru came in, it wouldn't be long before Sasuke woke up.

As if to prove him right, he slowly started stirring in the bed. His eyes cracked open slightly before flying back shut and an arm lifted from under the covers to shield them from the light, pulling the IV attached to the hand along. Carefully, Kaoru walked back to the switch and flicked the lights off. "They're off now. Want some water?"

His voice was low this time, remembering Sasuke waking up from the last surgery. The Uchiha nodded and Kaoru was quick in getting the straw to Sasuke's lips. Just like last time, Sasuke gulped pretty much the whole cup down. After the drink, he cleared his throat and tried opening his eyes again. "How'd the competition go?" Sasuke's voice was a little hoarse from being out, and he cleared his throat again, but Kaoru made no comment and had no reaction to it.

"You better start practicing as soon as you can. I broke your record by two centimeters. And I came first in my race." Kaoru gave a satisfied smile with his achievements of the competition, and Sasuke lazily raised a hand to pat Kaoru awkwardly on the head.

"Nice job. Did you bring food?"

"How did I know you were going to ask that?" He chuckled and shook his head in laughter. "An all-American style meal, per your request. Complete with a homemade cheeseburger, French fries, and chicken nuggets." Kaoru flipped the table over to cover part of Sasuke's bed before placing the food on it in front of Sasuke. "And soda to drink."

Sasuke's mouth was practically watering as he took the first bite of everything, trying it all out. "I'm having you cook for me more often."  
"Naruto tells me you aren't half-bad yourself." Sasuke shrugged to Kaoru, too busy eating to answer properly. "Remember when I said I would run here? I almost had to. Shino ended up giving me his bike." Sasuke froze in eating to look at Kaoru, the cheeseburger still held in his hand halfway to his mouth. "What?"

"_Shino_ gave _you_ his motorcycle to _ride_ here? _On your own?_" Sasuke's voice was laced with shock.

"Yeah. I mean, it was a little surprising since I don't really know him, but he told me to go because you were here and why are you looking at me like that?" Kaoru trailed from the sentence into his question at Sasuke's dumbfounded look he was receiving.

"Shino never lets anyone use his bike. Ever. But he let you… And you barely know him."

"Maybe I'm special?" Kaoru was a little shocked at the news that riding the bike wasn't as common as he thought, but played it off with a joke.

Sasuke only nodded. "Maybe you are," he mumbled.

"Anyways…" Kaoru tried to break the awkward silence he knew was coming before it actually came. "Any idea when you are getting out of here?"

"End of the month, probably. But I'll still have rehab. It'll be a while of that." Sasuke shrugged. "But I don't care about that. Tell me more about the competition. What was it like after you broke the record?"

"The crowd was really quiet at first and I thought the bar had fallen off…" Kaoru smiled a little at the memory of the seconds that felt like an eternity of silence. "Then the broadcaster yelled through the speakers that I broke the record and it got really loud really quick. Before I could even get off the mats, the team was there congratulating me, and then reporters were trying to talk to me…"

"You have to work on getting used to reporters. How bad did you do?" Sasuke nudged Kaoru with his foot in good humor.

"I answered some questions and stood straight like you said, but Neji came to save me from them eventually. After everyone had a few laughs at my suffering."

"You have to get better. Soon you won't need to be saved by someone else. That way, when you are interviewed for being beaten by me again, you can actually talk." Sasuke gave Kaoru another smile along with a little laugh. _Why is my heart beating so fast when I talk to Hinata? Is this love?_


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"How many times do I have to refuse companies for them to realize I don't want to sign with anyone?" Kaoru sunk into the chair in Sasuke's room, letting out a sigh of relief now that there was no one running after him to listen to more deals he wouldn't accept. "I was even followed here! To a hospital!"

"Just sign with my company. They don't ask much of you other than to wear some clothing at events and do some things. Nothing major. And it will get people off your backs. If you want to do more, you can, but you aren't forced to." Sasuke popped another piece of something into his mouth, eating it as he studied Kaoru. "And you can leave whenever you feel like it."

"I just might…" Kaoru mumbled, before shaking his head and running a hand through his hair, messing it up but not caring. "Enough about me. How are things going here?"

"Rehab is boring, annoying, and painful. That's about all that's new." Sasuke shrugged before glancing around at the bag that Kaoru brought with him. "Did you bring food?"

"No. So I got you some snacks as I was running here. I missed the bus again." Kaoru handed the bag up to Sasuke, and he pulled out different types of candies and other junk food. "How have you not gained weight with how you've been eating here?"

"I probably have… I just don't bother to check." A package of fruit snacks was ripped open and Sasuke popped a few in his mouth. "Oh yeah, they said I might be able to leave sometime late next week."

"'Oh yeah'? How do you forget about that?" Kaoru had practically fallen out of his seat when Sasuke spoke, going wide eyed as he stared at the boy on the bed.

Sasuke shrugged again, and action he was doing often recently. "I've been here so long, it doesn't seem that exciting. I still have to come back three times a week."

"But you'll be back in the dorms! That's already better than being here!"

Sasuke only shrugged and Kaoru sighed, before moving onto different topics to talk about, trying to bring the mood up. He was glad when it finally did and Sasuke was back to himself once again.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Are you coming to class, Sasuke?" Kaoru's question was spurred by Sasuke trying to at least get the top half of his uniform on, but having trouble while sitting in his chair.

"I've spent the weekend getting used to living here again. I almost _want_ to go to class now that I'm here and out of the hospital." He was still struggling with the shirt, and Kaoru sighed before walking over from the bathroom doorway. Without warning, he grabbed the shirt from Sasuke. "What are you doing?"

"Helping you. Stand and grab onto me to balance." Kaoru held out an arm like it was a bar for Sasuke to grab onto to pull himself up and stand holding onto. "Now, one arm through the shirt…" He held the shirt with the other hand as Sasuke stuck one arm into it. "And the other."

Sasuke completed putting on the shirt and sat down feeling helpless, blushing a little too. _Hinata just helped me put clothes on…_

"Thanks," he mumbled, before setting to work buttoning the shirt. After he did that, he grabbed the tie that was set on the bed and put it on, before throwing the blazer over the whole thing.

All that was left was the pants now, but Sasuke couldn't quite figure out how he was going to get the huge cast going up his leg into the small pant leg. "I'm sure they will understand if you don't wear those. Just put on sweatpants or something. But hurry, we are going to be late for breakfast."

Sasuke sighed but abandoned the dress pants for a pair of black sweatpants. Carefully, he first looped them over his cast before putting his other foot in the other leg. Using the bed to balance, he stood and pulled them up over the shorts he was wearing. _No way am I taking my shorts off in front of Hinata._ Kaoru gave him a strange glance but didn't say anything else, only grabbing Sasuke's bag to carry for the moment, trying to speed Sasuke out of the door a little.

When they finally left and started the trek to the cafeteria, Sasuke could already feel the stares on him in the chair, but he didn't react at all. Neither did Kaoru. It was slower than usual getting to the cafeteria, but Kaoru didn't comment on it and walked at the same pace as Sasuke wheeling the chair. "I'll get you breakfast. Just go to the table."

Remembering last time, Sasuke didn't argue and just watched as Kaoru expertly balanced the two trays as he got food for both of them. _I can't wait to get out of this chair. I hate depending on people._

OoOoOoOoOoO

"How long until the cast comes off?" Sasuke was sitting with the doctor as a few tests were being done on his casted foot, but the doctor only sighed.

"We won't know exactly at the moment, but it will be at least a month. Even after the cast comes off, though, there will still be a walking boot, and then a brace. It will be at least six months before you are walking without any support." He flipped Sasuke's file shut before glancing up at the boy, who was keeping a straight face at the news that was breaking him inside. "You might want to start looking into a different career than sports."

_I will not give up. In six months, I'll be jumping against Kaoru. I promise._

OoOoOoOoOoO

Kaoru walked into the dorm after another one of his training and talking with Neji sessions to find Sasuke asleep on the couch, his laptop still balanced on a pillow on his lap and his one foot propped up on another. With a small smile, he gently lifted the laptop off of Sasuke and put it on the table before moving the pillow. "Sasuke… Sasuke, wake up." He tried gently shaking Sasuke as he whispered into the elder's ear, but Sasuke didn't move at all. Frowning, Kaoru stood up from his crouched position and glanced at Sasuke, before grabbing one of the boy's arms and pulling it over his shoulder, crouching once again to get closer.

Carefully, Kaoru slipped his other arm under Sasuke's legs and lifted him off the couch. "You're heavy, Sasuke," he muttered while carefully navigating the small living room to Sasuke's bed. Once there, he placed Sasuke down and cracked his neck before pulling the blankets over Sasuke. Still, the Uchiha hadn't woken up. "Good night."

Quietly, Kaoru got himself ready for bed and finally laid down in his own bed. Staring at the ceiling, his thoughts began to wander. _I wonder how his appointment went. I'll ask tomorrow. First thing._

When Sasuke woke up in his bed the next morning, it didn't take long to remember he had fallen asleep on the couch. But before he could even begin to wonder how he had gotten to the bed, Kaoru was quietly trying to slip down the staircase, and Sasuke realized that the younger boy was the only way. "You're up? Already?" Sasuke hadn't realized Kaoru was looking at him and jumped a little when the boy spoke. "You should go back to sleep. There's still three hours before anyone gets up."

Sasuke glanced at his clock to see it was before three in the morning. In the time it took for him to take that in, Kaoru walked over to the door and was about to leave when Sasuke realized. "Where are you going?"

"For a walk. I'll be back soon. Go back to sleep." Without waiting for a reply, Kaoru walked out of the door, leaving Sasuke alone in the dorm. With nothing better to do, Sasuke listened to Kaoru and went back to sleep.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Kaoru knew people were looking at him strange; it wasn't often that you saw a fifteen year old kid walking in a food store on his own at three in the morning, but there Kaoru was. With a purpose in mind, he quickly grabbed what he was at the store for and bought it before stuffing the bag into a backpack he brought. Within a half hour, he was on his way back to the school, walking so fast he was almost running.  
But instead of going to the dorms when he got there, Kaoru headed towards the kitchen. The main room was still pitch black, but the lights inside the cooking area were on. Carefully, Kaoru navigated the dark room and opened the door for the kitchen, peeking his head inside. The woman inside smiled at him a nodded, telling him to come in. "I almost thought you forgot when three thirty passed."

"I got held up at the store. Thank you so much for letting me do this." Kaoru opened the bag and started pulling out what he had bought, while the kitchen worker grabbed a few things that were in the back of one of the cabinets in the room.

"No problem. But who are you cooking for?" She placed the items by Kaoru before turning back to the large amount of food she had been working on before Kaoru came in.

"My father. It's his birthday and I haven't seen him in a while." Kaoru wasted no time in washing his hands and even putting on an apron as soon as he was finished laying things out, before grabbing the other things he would need. Quickly but perfectly, he measured items and poured them into a bowl, mixing it when needed.

The worker watched him from the corner of her eye as they worked on their own things, slightly amazed at how at ease Kaoru was in the kitchen. _Like a housewife._ "Did you cook when you lived at home?" Her question broke the silence that had been lingering in the kitchen, and Kaoru was a little surprised at it. "I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to. It was a little insensitive."

"No, it's fine." Kaoru concentrated on mixing the ingredients as he spoke, but his grip on the spoon was a little too tight to be normal. "Yes, I did. My mother died when I was young and my father was always busy working with my uncle, so I cooked for them and my cousin a lot, being the youngest." _And the only girl._ Kaoru didn't add on the last thought at it, but he couldn't help thinking it.

"I'm sorry, I didn't…" The girl stumbled over her words, and Kaoru realized with a start that she couldn't have been over twenty now that he was seeing her clearly and not just when she was working.

"It's fine. It happened a long time ago." He shrugged and stopped stirring to pour the batter into a cake mold. "Can I ask you something? Why do you work here if you are so young?"

"My brothers go here. Part of it is to see them more often. Part of it is to earn enough money to get through college. Working here from early in the morning to late at night gets more money than working the same somewhere else. Most of it is seeing how happy most of the kids here are to get a home-cooked meal after all their practices." She blushed a little and focused more on the breakfast treats she was working on. "It sounds really cheesy when I say that."

"Just like how those biscuits are going to be really cheesy with how much you are putting in." She jumped as soon as Kaoru pointed out her mistake, and the boy only laughed. "It's okay. I'll fix this for you, since it was my fault for distracting you."

"You-you don't have to do that. It's fine. I'll just make more." She tried to protest, but Kaoru had already grabbed the massive mixing bowl away from her.  
"I know how it works in this kitchen. Any ingredients you waste get taken from your paycheck, and this would be a lot. I can fix it, you just work on what you have to do next." Kaoru gave a smile and grabbed the ingredients from beside the cook. "It's fine. Really. I know what I'm doing."

"Thank you." She gave a slight smile back and turned to the next thing to prepare, but kept glancing back at Kaoru, who, true to his word, was fixing the too-cheesy biscuit batter. After that was done and in the oven, he glanced at the time before looking around the kitchen. "Do you have to go?"

"Not yet. But doesn't anyone work with you?"

"Not until half an hour before breakfast. I do most of this on my own. It's kind of nice having someone here helping, though." She looked back at Kaoru, but the boy was focusing on the next thing on the list, cutting up fruit.

"Want someone to work with you this early then?" Kaoru's question surprised her, but she still nodded a little when Kaoru looked over his shoulder. "Then I'll see if I can get a job here."

"I can recommend you to the principal. I just need your name." The second part got both of them realizing they didn't know the other's name at all. "I'm Temari, by the way."

"Kaoru. Hitachiin Kaoru." He went to hold out a hand to Temari before realizing his hands were covered in fruit juice. With an embarrassed smile, he wiped it on the apron before trying once again.

"Nice to meet you, Kaoru." Temari grabbed his newly cleaned hand with a hand she purposefully covered in flour to shake, giving Kaoru a smile when he realized what she had done. _This is going to be fun._

**A/N So… Temari. I actually hadn't planned on putting her in like this, but decided last minute to. I'm not quite sure why, but I know she is definitely out of character because I hadn't been writing the character as her at first. Anyways… What do you guys think?**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Kaoru couldn't believe the paycheck that was in front of him for only working in the kitchen for two weeks. "Is this school made of money?"

"Yes, now why do you ask?" Sasuke glanced over at Kaoru, who was still staring at the paycheck. "What's that?"

"Paycheck for working in the kitchen. Four hundred for two weeks…" Kaoru shook his head, still not quite believing it.

"That's nothing for this school. They pay kids to help with pretty much anything and you get a bunch from it." Sasuke shrugged, before sighing at the English homework in front of him. "Can you help me with this?"

Kaoru quickly stuffed the check into his wallet before spinning his chair around to face Sasuke's desk. With a step, he was behind Sasuke, reading from the book before smiling a little. "You have to write sentences using those verbs. Do you know what _to learn_ means in Japanese?" He read the first word on the list off in English, which sounded strange in the middle of his Japanese sentence.

"Yeah, teachers teach and you _learn_." Sasuke tried to say it in English to, but it didn't sound even close.

"Good. We'll work on pronunciation later. Can you write your sentence in English now?" Kaoru bit back his chuckle when Sasuke got stuck on the first word. "_Teachers._"

"Thanks." He took a while sounding it out to spell the word correctly, but eventually did. The rest he got on his own, and they moved onto the next sentence, completing it in the same manner. _This is going to take a while…_ But Kaoru still kept his half-smile on his face as he worked with Sasuke.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Are you trying to kill yourself?!" Kaoru didn't respond to whoever was yelling at him, still running to make the jump he'd been working on. "Don't you get up at three to work in the kitchen?! It's already past midnight!" He jumped, still ignoring whoever was trying to interrupt his training. A foot clipped the bar and sent it down with him and Kaoru cursed a little as he hit the mat, but still went to get up to reset the bar.

However, Naruto was standing there holding it. He seemed to be glaring at Kaoru, but the younger boy was too tired to notice it. "Give me the bar, Naruto."

"No! You're going to kill yourself if you do this!" He stepped back when Kaoru went to grab the pole from him, and the younger boy started to fall off the mat from the loss of balance. Naruto quickly jumped forward to catch him. "See?"

"I'm fine. Give me the bar now, Naruto." The blonde shook his head and Kaoru let out a frustrated sigh. "Naruto, give me the bar. _Now_." His voice held a warning in it, but Naruto didn't listen.

"No. You're hurting yourself doing this." Naruto shook his head, hair spinning out with it.

Normally, Kaoru found the action cute and funny. Now, not so much. It actually annoyed him. "Sasuke told me to make it hard for him to come back. I'm doing that. Give me the bar, Naruto."

"No." Kaoru went to jump forward to grab the bar from Naruto, only to pitch forward and fall on Naruto. The blonde thought he was just playing at first, but soon realized something was wrong when Kaoru didn't move. "Kaoru?" Nothing. Dropping the bar from his grip, Naruto grabbed one of Kaoru's shoulders and pulled the boy back to see his eyes closed. "Kaoru, wake up. This isn't funny." Still nothing. "Kaoru?"

Naruto looped one of Kaoru's limp arms over his own shoulders before shifting the boy to carry him bridal style. _He's really light._ But Naruto didn't have the time to be thinking about things like that, instead jogging out of the gym before taking off towards Sasuke's dorm. When he got there, Kaoru still wasn't moving, and Naruto knew that was something to worry about. He kicked the door hard with his foot and waited only a few seconds before hitting the lock with his foot to break it open. Sasuke was darting up from his bed and hopping on one foot as soon as that happened, but Naruto just walked in, being careful of Kaoru's limp body. "Sasuke, help him."

Sasuke's eyes widened at the sight of Kaoru in Naruto's arms. The boy was too pale to be normal by now. "Put him on my bed." He didn't even waste time with the wheelchair, just grabbing crutches to get around the dorm, quickly getting a thermometer from the kitchen and holding that with one finger before returning to the bedside. "Take his temperature. And tell me what happened."

Naruto pressed the button on the thermometer and stuck it into Kaoru's mouth as he began talking. "He was still training and I was trying to get him to stop and we were fighting a little and then he just passed out onto me. I carried him here."

The thermometer seemed to be taking longer than normal, but it came back just a little high, nothing major. "He's probably just sick then, Naruto. Go back to your own dorm." The blonde seemed hesitant, but eventually stood to leave. As he started to walk out of the door, Sasuke thought of something. "Wait! What were you doing watching him train this late?"

Naruto's blush told him everything. "You like Kaoru, don't you?" He got no answer as Naruto practically ran out of the room. "He likes Kaoru." Sasuke nodded his head as if to make it official, before turning to Kaoru passed out on his bed. "You're not going to like me when you wake up, Hinata."

But he knew this had to be done. So Sasuke gently pulled off first the t-shirt Kaoru was wearing, and then looked at the multiple tank tops under that. With a slight blush on his cheeks, he took off the first one, and was happy to see there weren't more over the chest bindings. Carefully, he loosened the wraps before putting the loose t-shirt back over the top. _Maybe she won't even notice._

OoOoOoOoOoO

Kaoru definitely noticed when he woke up in Sasuke's bed. The first thing he did was look around in fright when he felt the loosened wraps, before seeing Sasuke sitting at his desk, doing something on the computer. _Maybe it just came loose on its own. But why am I in his bed?_ "What time is it?"

"You're up?" Sasuke glanced at a clock. "Eight-oh-three."

Kaoru practically jumped out of the bed, scrambling to get up the stairs. "I'm late, I'm late. Temari's going to kill me."

"I already told her you were sick."

"Why'd you do that?" Kaoru froze halfway up the stairs and turned to face Sasuke.

"Because you are. You passed out on Naruto last night. Practically scared him to death." Sasuke wasn't looking away from the computer. "She told me to tell you that if it's too hard to work there with your training, it's okay for you to quit as long as you still visit her sometimes."

"I'm _not_ quitting." Kaoru tried to sound defiant in it, but he still sat on the stairs as he started thinking about it. _Should I? I train into the night so much… I've only been getting a few hours of sleep lately._

"She's not the only one who thinks you should. Naruto and I agreed that you've been different since you started. You've only been getting a few hours of sleep most nights." Sasuke finally turned in his chair to see Kaoru still sitting on the stairs, thinking.

"…Should I?" Kaoru looked to Sasuke, not being able to decide on his own. "Tell me, not as a friend or anything but as someone who isn't at all related to this, should I quit?"

"It's making you sick. Yes." Sasuke nodded, not even needing the time to think about the question.

Kaoru thought that over some more, before slowly nodding and getting up. "I'll tell her later then… Wait, don't you have an appointment today?"

Sasuke nodded to Kaoru. "Yeah, why?"

"Don't you have to leave soon?"

"Yeah…" Sasuke glanced at the clock again to make sure he was right. "Why?"

"…Nothing. Forget about it." Without another word, Kaoru shook his head and raced up the rest of the steps.

_That was weird._ But Sasuke didn't think much of it as he finished up what he was doing and looked at the clock once again. "I'm leaving!"

"See you later!"

OoOoOoOoOoO

"The cast's coming off today." For one of the first times Kaoru had ever seen, Sasuke looked excited. "This hunk of plaster is actually coming off."

"Then you get to see all the scars on your ankle and have a hunk of plastic walking boot while still being on crutches for a few months." Kaoru killed the mood in seconds, and could feel Sasuke's glare on him. "I'm sorry, but you woke me up to tell me what I already know. Now why am I up at five in the morning on a Saturday?"

"I _was_ going to ask if you were going to come, but…" Sasuke gave a shrug from his chair, but Kaoru could see the smirk on his face that he was joking. "I'm leaving at six. Just so you know."

Kaoru nodded with a sigh and got up from the couch. With legs stiff from sleep, he walked over to the stairs and started going up. But as he did, something dawned on Sasuke. "Why were you sleeping on the couch?"

"Huh?" Kaoru scratched his head a little, making the bed head hair he had even worse, before squinting as he thought. "I don't know…" He let out a yawn before continuing up the steps.

Sasuke just shook his head and started to gather his clothes to change while Kaoru would be showering, but was quickly turned back around when there was a crash by the stairs. Kaoru was sprawled on the floor, the items that were in his shower basket all across the floor. Picking himself up off the floor, he rubbed his arm. "I'm okay!"

He started to pick up all the things that fell, and Sasuke chuckled a little as they kept falling out of Kaoru's arms. Eventually, the boy crammed all of the things into the basket and finally made it into the bathroom. A minute later, the water was running, and Sasuke knew he was safe.

Or thought he was. The door to their dorm—that he was sure was locked—was thrown open and Naruto came running in, not even greeting Sasuke as he went to run into the bathroom. "Naruto!"

"Can't talk!" He went to open the door to the bathroom, only for Kaoru to open it from the other side, still in his shorts and t-shirt. Naruto pushed right past him and closed Kaoru out of the room, leaving the boy standing there completely confused.

"What just happened?"

"We just got kicked out of our bathroom by a person who doesn't even live in our dorm…" Sasuke finally looked away from the bathroom Naruto was now occupying to Kaoru. "I thought you were showering."

"I forgot my clothes… I guess I won't need it for a while now." He glanced at the time before just walking into the kitchen. "What do you want for breakfast? We have eggs or cereal."

"I'll have cereal." _Kaoru not being able to shower now is going to make me run late too… I'm going to kill you Naruto._

"I'll get everything ready. You should change." _Does Hinata realize what she just said?!_ But there wasn't much Sasuke could say that would make sense for why he couldn't change right then, so he did eventually change his clothes right across the dorm from Kaoru, noticing how the younger boy did everything possible to look away from him. _Idiot, tell me to change and then act so embarrassed by it_.

But eventually, Sasuke was sitting at the table eating cereal with Kaoru wearing his clothes for the day. Kaoru, however, was still in his pajamas. "How long is Naruto going to take?"

"It could be a while…" He sighed at that news, before looking across the dorm, his eyes catching on something. A little faster than usual, Kaoru finished his breakfast and grabbed whatever he was looking at before turning to Sasuke.

"I'll be back in a few minutes. If Naruto comes out, kick him for me." Sasuke gave a little nod, knowing he would do more than kick Naruto if he had the chance. When what Kaoru said before that finally dawned on him, it was too late.

"Wait! Where are you going?" There was no answer, only the dorm door closing. _I swear that was locked._


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"You really went to the locker rooms to shower?" Kaoru nodded to Sasuke as they made their way to the school van for their trip to the hospital. "Why?"

Kaoru shrugged. "Naruto was taking forever and I needed to shower." _And nobody would be there at five in the morning on a Saturday._

Sasuke had to admit the plan was smart for being thought up as quick as Kaoru had, but it was also risky. _What if you were caught, idiot? What would you have done then?_ There wasn't much else said between them as they walked the school grounds, and when they finally reached the van, Kakashi was just getting there as well. Without any words other than a greeting between them, the teacher took the wheel while the two kids climbed in the back.

By the time they were actually driving off, Kaoru had decided it was enough with the silence and went to speak to Sasuke. The older boy, however, was passed out against the window. _Idiot. You could have said if you were tired._

OoOoOoOoOoO

Sasuke hated to admit that Kaoru had been right, but after the initial excitement that his cast was off, it really was just seeing his foot with scars on it and a plastic walking boot. Nothing special, and sort of disgusting after so long in the cast and having a surgery. He wouldn't tell the younger boy that he had been right, but just knew that Kaoru already knew it himself.

But his physical therapy was really starting now, and Sasuke was working as hard on that as Kaoru was on jumping, pushing himself to exhaustion and beyond many times. He wasn't giving up though, and was going to get better fast. At least, that was his reasoning behind it all. There wasn't any telling if there was truth behind the statement or not, but Sasuke believed it to be true and acted like it was, so it was accepted like that. In his mind.

Kaoru, on the other hand, wished the older boy would stop pushing himself so hard. But nothing he could say would make Sasuke listen. _Is this what I was like with jumping and all? I understand where Naruto and Sasuke were coming from then…_ With Sasuke at another one of his therapy sessions, Kaoru couldn't focus on his homework while wondering how the other was doing and eventually gave up on it for the time being. "What is there to do?" He looked around the dorm for anything that could distract him, before his eyes landed on the bathroom door. "I can fix that again…"

When Sasuke came hobbling through the dorm door, he was surprised to find Kaoru still sitting in front of the bathroom door, screwdrivers all across the floor and a variety of screws in a bag, along with pieces of the doorknob on the ground. "What are you doing?"

Kaoru didn't look up from what he was doing with one of the pieces. "Fixing the lock. How'd your therapy go?"

"Fine…" He stepped over the items on the ground carefully, finally into the actual dorm. "When did you start doing that?"

"I don't know… Seven-ish?" Kaoru shrugged before shouting in excitement when he finally fixed the piece and started putting the knob back together.

"It took you two hours?" Sasuke was more than shocked by that. "What have you been doing to it?"

"I had to find screwdrivers and to do that I had to go across the grounds multiple times tracking down the janitor. By then, it was already over an hour after I started. Then I took it apart and couldn't figure out how it went back together so I had to look up videos on that…" He tightened the last screw before jumping away from the door. "All done!"

Sasuke couldn't get over how excited Kaoru seemed to be over doing such a simple fix, before something dawned on him. _Hinata's never had to fix something herself before. This is probably huge for her. _"Nice job. Now, did you do the homework? I tried to do it in the waiting room, but I was confused…" When Sasuke saw Kaoru's reaction at the word homework, however, he got his answer. "You've been so focused on the door that you didn't do your homework?"

"Maybe…" But Kaoru still tried to defend himself. "We can't have a bathroom door that doesn't lock! That's just wrong!"

"What's the problem? We're both guys." Sasuke couldn't help the little smirk when Kaoru froze up for a second at that. _You're such a good actor, Hinata, that I forget sometimes. But isn't it tiring on you?_

OoOoOoOoOoO

"When's your birthday?" Sasuke and Kaoru were both lying in their beds on separate floors, but neither of them could fall asleep, so Sasuke came up with the bright idea of asking Kaoru random questions.

"December 27th. Why?" _She didn't think of making up a fake birthday?_

"I'm curious… Isn't that the birthday of Hiashi's daughter?" Sasuke was curious as to what the excuse would be now, wondering if Kaoru even had one.

"Yeah. My parents thought it was a sign of good luck that I was born on the same day as her." Kaoru was silent for a few seconds as Sasuke took that in. "When's yours?"

"July 23rd." He thought for another question for a little while, letting the room be in complete silence for a few seconds. "What happened to your parents?"

"My mother died when I was little, so I don't have much memory of her…" He was silent for so long that Sasuke thought Kaoru fell asleep, until the boy talked again. "I never quite got along with my father… Even before I came here, I was living separate from him." _Was she really? How did people not know of this?_

"Why? What made you hate your father like that?" As much as Sasuke hated to admit it, no matter how much he disliked his father, he didn't _hate_ him. But it sure sounded like Kaoru hated Hiashi.

"I didn't." Kaoru tried to think of how to word it. "I disliked my father a lot, but didn't hate him. I'm not capable of that. But, the reasons why…. There were many things. He blamed me for my mother's death, saying I made her worry too much about me when I was young and always got sick. He also had many people that hated him to the point of taking it out on his children. Being the oldest, it was normally me. Nobody would dare to touch my little sister." The fact that people dared to hurt Hinata shocked Sasuke, but Kaoru didn't notice and continued on. "And because of his job, I was going to be married off to some important person in another village to strengthen ties. That was one of the main reasons I broke contact with him, so that the marriage would be off."

"He was going to force a fifteen year old kid to marry somebody?"

"It wasn't just his choice, but, yes, he didn't fight back enough to stop it." Kaoru could be heard shifting in his bed before Sasuke saw the boy's head popped over the edge of the floor. "Why do you ask?"

"That's insane. I've always thought your family was poor—no offense, but you don't have much money so I figured your family didn't. But now your dad sounds like an important person." _Did I finally catch her in a lie?_

"He works with the government. He's rich, but I'm not. I have no ties to him, other than my blood and his name on papers that lie about him taking care of me." Kaoru shrugged, an amazing feat for hanging upside down a story above the ground. "But what about your family?"

"My father's a government worker as well, part of the police force; my mother's the housewife. Nothing special. My dad's pretty well off, but most of the money comes from my sponsorships and all. And then you know Itachi." He yawned and glanced at a clock. "I'm going to sleep. We still have class tomorrow."

"No we don't. There's a surprise assembly." Kaoru pulled himself back onto his floor as he spoke.

"How do you know?"

"I have my ways." Kaoru didn't say anything else and shut off the little light on his floor, surrounding the dorm in darkness. "'Night Sasuke." He didn't get a reply, so he looked over the edge of the floor once again. On the bed directly below his, Sasuke was already passed out asleep. _You should have just said you were tired, idiot._

"Sasuke? Are you asleep?" He whispered it quietly, but Sasuke should have been able to hear it. Nothing. "Okay, then I can say this without you knowing. I'm sorry I'm lying for you and everyone. I didn't want to be married off, so I ran away. I'd always told Father I'd wanted to do sports, but he said it was inappropriate for a girl and would be bad for his image. After that, I'd wished I'd been born a boy, so I made it happen. I pushed Hinata away and became Kaoru." He took a deep breath, needing it after whispering the whole tale in one breath. After saying it all for the first time, Kaoru felt like a weight was lifted off of his chest and that he could finally breathe again. But, he had tears rolling down his cheeks as he watched Sasuke sleeping. "I'm sorry for lying to you guys. It hurts to lie to people you love, but you all will just hate me if you knew, wouldn't you?"

With nothing more to say, Kaoru laid back down in his bed, staring at the night sky through the skylight in the ceiling. Underneath, Sasuke finally cracked his eyes open, before opening them wide when he couldn't see Kaoru. _Does she really think that we would hate her for following her dream? But for her father to push away her dream because it was "unladylike" is… Does he not realize some of the most respected athletes are girls? _As Sasuke was thinking of this, he knew he wouldn't be getting much sleep that night, but let his thought parade continue, even grabbing a notebook and pen silently to write down some of his thoughts. _If it's okay for girls to be athletes, then why isn't there a girl's academy like this one? The only all-girls academy in this village trains girls to be doctors and teachers, but not athletes. And the co-ed academy teaches the same things, so it's not special. But none of the other academies in the village teach athletics. Shouldn't there be a fair chance for everyone?_ He was even a little shocked to be caring about something he wouldn't have even thought about only a few months ago, but knew the change was from the person he was sharing the dorm with. _Kaoru's changing everyone._

But for Kaoru upstairs, the breathless feeling was back again. He couldn't figure out why since he had finally gotten the lie off his chest, but nothing he did made it better. _Maybe my bindings are just too tight…_


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

"As you all know, the three dorms compete at the end of the year for special privileges the following school year…" There were a few yells from the students in all the dorms as Sarutobi spoke of the competition. "This year, like every year, this competition will take place. As heads of the winning dorm for the past three years, Neji and Shikamaru will speak more about the events for this year."

The two boys stepped up and attention was on them, showing just how high their positions were in the school. "This year, like every year, will consist of multiple events to decide the winning dorm."

"And the dorm that wins gets access to the private bathhouse and training building on campus." Neji explained the prize and Kaoru's mood dropped a little at the mention of the bathhouse, only to decide it wasn't important. In seconds, he was back to normal, but Sasuke had noticed. "The events are…"

A drum roll sounded through the assembly room before Shikamaru started the listing. "Swimming." A banner with the different races dropped down behind him, but Kaoru paid no attention. He wouldn't even stick a toe in the school swimming pool, never mind compete in it.

"Basketball, baseball, soccer, football, tennis, lacrosse, and ping-pong." Next to drop down was a banner with the sport names on it, but again Kaoru only skimmed over it.

"Track and field." Two banners came down to cover all the events, and Kaoru finally took the time to read them over.

"And the marathon. It is open to any school student who wishes to compete." Neji finished the listing before handing the assembly back over to Sarutobi. Many students, however, weren't paying much attention anymore, and Kaoru was definitely one of them. _I'm so doing this._

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Dorm meeting. Get Sasuke and go to our game room." Kaoru had barely gotten into the dorm from the assembly after all classes were cancelled when Neji was at their door telling them to leave. But before he could say anything back to the dorm head, he was already at the next room getting the inhabitants out. _Well, this is fun… Not._

"Sasuke, come on. We have a dorm meeting." Kaoru didn't even go back into the door to get the other boy, only grabbing his shoes from their place by the door and waiting for him to come. A few seconds later, they were making their way down the hall with other people from the dorm, all talking about the games that were still months away. "Any idea what this is going to be about?"

"Probably the games. They are going to want to sort out who is doing what event so that we can all start training for a specific thing." Sasuke shrugged, which seemed almost impossible since he was on crutches, but he managed. Once they reached the room, Sasuke took the only empty seat on a couch, leaving Kaoru to sit on the armrest.

Sasuke was right; it was about the games. Shikamaru was standing there with a clipboard and a white board, all the events listed with the number of people needed. When the room was filled to capacity and Neji finally entered, the pineapple hair boy slammed the clipboard on a table to gain everyone's attention. "Since we have the whole dorm here, you all better be quite. It's too troublesome to talk over you…" He looked around the room, meeting eyes with people every now and then. "As all of you know, in July we are having the dorm competition. For the past three years, we have won. Let's keep it that way."

"As we've seen in the last few years, dorm 2 will always dominate in soccer, so we aren't going to be wasting any good competitors in that area if we can help it. Dorm 3 is better at basketball and football. Lacrosse has switched back and forth between dorms 2 and 3, but we have yet to win that. Which leaves baseball, tennis, and ping-pong for us to try and score wins on in the team sports." Neji ran through the whole thought process on the board, circling the final three choices. "We'll be having tryouts for these teams in a week. Feel free to sign up for any of the other choices in this category and we will pull names from a hat. However, if you would be a better competitor in another event, we will put you there first."

Next Shikamaru took over in explaining the swimming events. "We are all trained in swimming in this school, so you can sign up for the swimming event and we will choose competitors with the best times on average for each race."

"And for track and field, we are the shoo-in winners. The majority of the track team is in this dorm, and we have dominated most of the events in this category for years. As we have done previously, you sign up and we hold competitions within the dorm with the winners as our representatives for the games. Before we start sign-ups though, is there anyone other than Kaoru who would be up for doing the high jump?" Nobody bothered to volunteer, and Neji looked at Kaoru out of the whole crowd. "You are representing our dorm for high jump. You better train hard to beat Sai."

Kaoru nodded and tried to ignore Sasuke nudging his side, focusing on the rest of the events. "And the marathon is open to anyone who wishes to try. We hope to get as many runners as possible for the highest chances. Understood?" Most of the boys nodded to the two heads, and Shikamaru unclipped the papers from his clipboard. "These are the sign-up sheets for each event. You have until the end of tomorrow to write your name on here to be considered for the tryouts. Good luck."

OoOoOoOoOoO

Kaoru was amazed at the sheer amount of kids who tried to sign up right away. "I'm going back to the dorm. I'll sign up later." Sasuke nodded and stood to follow him, leaving behind the crowd of students as they returned to their dorm.

"What events are you going to do?" Music filled the dorm as Sasuke turned on his radio, adjusting the volume so it was just background noise. Once he was finished, he glanced up at Kaoru, who was gathering supplies to clean their shoes.

"Some races probably. And you heard that I'm our high jumper." He shrugged as he laid a towel down on the floor near Sasuke's bed, arranging the many pairs of sneakers at the edge. "Do you have any other shoes for me to clean?"

"Nope." The elder sat back against the wall on his bed, watching Kaoru over his laptop he was working on. "You should do the marathon. You'd beat everyone."

"I wouldn't be any good at it." He paused as he scrubbed the side of one shoe before continuing when suds weren't flying everywhere anymore. "I've never run a marathon before."

"All the more reason to try. It doesn't matter how you do in the school one, since it only matters who wins." Sasuke nudged the back of Kaoru's head with his good foot, pushing his forward while he was still sitting. _Hinata's really flexible. She's almost bent in half…_

"What are you doing?" Kaoru tried to push the offending foot off, but it didn't move at all.

"Holding you down until you say you will."

"I'm not going to." His face inched closer to the suds-covered shoe and he pushed it away in fear of getting a mouth of cleaner. Still, his head got closer to the ground, until his forehead was touching the towel. "If you're trying to get me to say it from pain, it's going to take more than this. I can stretch farther."

Sasuke cursed a little and finally let Kaoru up, unable to stretch anymore himself. "I'll just write your name on the list tomorrow morning then."

"Good luck with that."

OoOoOoOoOoO

Kaoru moved around the dorm silently since Sasuke was sleeping, not even putting on shoes as he slipped out of the door, pen in hand. The hallways were dark, but he used the old phone Sasuke had given him after the police incident to light the way. It was the only light in the common room, but Kaoru still managed to find the lists hanging on the wall.

Holding the phone between his teeth, he wrote his name on a few race sheets before turning to leave. His eyes caught on the marathon list, noticing only a few people had signed up. They needed at least fifteen runners for their dorm to compete, but so far there were less than ten. _They should get enough tomorrow._

And as silently as he left, Kaoru entered the dorm again and was soon asleep on the couch, too tired to even climb the steps to his bed silently.

OoOoOoOoOoO

A _thud_ resounding through the dorm woke Sasuke, and he sat up quickly to glance around the room for the cause. Finally, his eyes landed on Kaoru sitting on the ground by the couch, rubbing his head. When the boy pulled his hand back to reveal red, the Uchiha cursed. "You can't even sleep without getting hurt?"

"…I fell off the couch. I guess I hit the table. It's fine." But the huge gash above Kaoru's eye said otherwise.

"No, you're not. You have blood dripping down your face." He hurried to stand and used one crutch to hobble for the kitchen and get a towel. "Hold this to that. We're going to Kakashi to get it cleaned."

"I don't need that…" He was proven wrong when a few drops of blood fell from his chin to the wood floor. Sighing, he grabbed the towel and held it to his head before finally standing. Sasuke grabbed his other crutch before rushing out of the room faster than Kaoru had ever seen him move before. "Why are you rushing? It's not like I'm going to die."

"The soaked towel on your head says otherwise." Kaoru only sighed and picked up his pace a little more to keep up with Sasuke. It was still very early in the morning, too early for anyone to be up, and Kaoru was thankful for that. There was nobody to see his early-morning fail.

When they finally reached Kakashi's office, the lights were still off and the door locked. Sasuke cursed again and looked at Kaoru carefully. "Sit here and I'll go to the office to see if someone can help."

"Help with what?" Both of them jumped when Kakashi rounded the corner. His eyes fell to Kaoru, who was leaning on the wall heavily and was paler than he should have been. "What the hell happened here? Sasuke, explain."

He wasted no time in opening the door, throwing his bags down on the chair while Kaoru sat on the bed, Sasuke telling what happened as best he could. Rubber gloves were snapped against his wrists in his haste to pull them on before Kakashi finally pulled away the blood-soaked towel, examining the cut on Kaoru's forehead. "This is definitely going to need stitches. Sasuke, come sit over here." He motioned to the seat next to Kaoru's bed, producing a new glove from the box on the table. "Put this on and hold this gauze to his head. Use as much pressure as you can. Kaoru, don't move."

He watched the boys as he set up a van to the hospital as quickly as he could. When that was done, he was dialing the hospital with his cell phone, getting the wheelchair out as he did. As soon as he hung up, he was directing Kaoru and Sasuke again. "Kaoru, can you stand to get into the chair?"

"You two are really over-reacting. I'm fine." But as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Kaoru went to stand from the bed.

And promptly collapsed, eyes rolling back in his head. "Shit."


End file.
